Fiery Favor
by UnKnownSalvation
Summary: When Sashi's apartment burns down due to an electrical fire, Penn offers for her and her family to stay at his house. With the new increase in proximity between the two, they find the bond between them growing stronger, especially as Penn and Boone try to uncover what happened. Cover art made by NeoNimbus.
1. Ch 1: SOS

_**Fiery Favor**_

 **Ch. 1: SOS**

It was late in the evening at the Middleburg suburbs, as the local area began to wind down to where the chirping of the crickets and the occasional passing cars were the only things heard outside. In one particular house, a teenaged red-head boy was fast asleep in his bed, snoring softly and quietly through the night.

His peace, however, was not meant to last forever and neither was the dream that was about to unfold.

* * *

Penn opened his eyes and suddenly found himself in total darkness, with nothing but the complete blackness surrounding him. No matter where he went and looked, it was simply an empty abyss...

' _Oh not this place again!'_ Penn thought until he realized he wasn't floating but was standing on solid ground. He looked up and saw something shining from a distance. _'Oh please be something good!'_ He walked up to the light slowly until he heard two familiar voices coming from the light.

"Penn, is that you?" That voice… it was familiar to him...

"Sweetie, it's us!" It couldn't be...

"...Mom...Dad?" Penn spoke after a few seconds of silence, stunned to hear the voices of his parents, before running towards the light, the distance getting much smaller and the light getting much brighter with each step. By the time he finally reached to it, two familiar faces were standing right in front of him in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable.

"Mom! Dad! You're both here!" Penn shouted with joy and rushed towards them with happiness, giving his folks one great, big hug.

"Penn, we knew you could find us!" Vonnie ecstatically told her son.

"That's our man, Vonnie! Our precious, little man!" Brock praised, with tears of joy streaming off from his face, to Penn's embarrassment.

"Dad…" Penn began, his face flustered with embarrassment. He was just glad that there was no one else around to see this. or it'll never be the end of it.

"Brock, our Penn isn't a baby anymore," Vonnie slightly scolded her husband.

"You're right, Vonnie. I'm sorry…" Brock began, as he wiped the tears of joy from his eyes. "After all, it's time that Penn prepares himself for his wedding and be a real man at last."

Penn looked at his dad confusingly. Something about that last statement didn't seem to add up.

"Dad, what are you talking a…" Penn trailed off when he looked down and instead of his usual attires, he was suddenly wearing a tuxedo that appeared out of nowhere. He certainly didn't have this on him when he found his parents. "W-What the heck is this?!"

"Why, it's your tuxedo, silly," Vonnie answered, seemingly ignoring her son's wild reaction. "And you certainly look your finest at the altar."

"The altar?" Penn then looked around and sure enough, he and his parents were suddenly at the altar, instead of the Most Dangerous World Imaginable that they were in minutes ago. The sudden change of scenery was starting to creep Penn out a bit.

' _What's going on around here?!'_ Penn's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of organ pipes playing out of nowhere, prompting Penn to look toward the direction to see that it was played by none other than…

"Rippen?!" Penn couldn't even fathom why Rippen, of all people, was here.

"I'm just as lost as you, honestly," Rippen shrugged off his arch rival's concern in his usual grumpy demeanor, before he resumed playing the organ pipes once more. "Also, did you know I could play the organ, because I sure didn't. It's actually a lot easier than it looks."

"Ah, I see that you ready for the big day," Penn knew where that jovial voice was coming from, as he turned around and saw Larry...dressed as a marriage officiant and still has that joyful look on his face, no matter the situation.

"Big day? What big day?!" at this point, Penn was at a complete lost. He didn't know what makes sense anymore: the tuxedo, the alter, Rippen playing the organ pipes or Larry as a marriage officiant. But what came out of Larry's mouth was not what he expected it to be.

"All hail...the mighty flip flops!"

"...Excuse me?" Penn asked, confused by Larry's answer.

* * *

 _All hail…the mighty flip flops!_

The sound of his phone's ringtone broke the silence over its metaphorical knee, waking Penn up from his time with his dream parents. The ringtone could only be from one person and one person only, as Penn looked over towards his alarm clock, before grunting in annoyance.

"Ugh! Really, Boone?! First you change my ringtone and now you're calling me at midnight on a school night?!" Penn reached over and accepted the call. "What is it, Boone?"

"Penn, it's terrible!" The sound of Boone yelling into the phone made Penn recoil away.

"What, did your house flood again?"

"No! Sashi's apartment is on fire!" Penn almost didn't even register what it was that Boone had said, due to his drowsiness and because of the statement being something he couldn't ever imagine happening to one of his friends.

"...What?"

"Sashi's! Apartment! Is! On! fire!" Penn's heart sank deeper with every word spoken and his eyes looked like snowballs with a small black and blue dot in the middle.

"Oh my god, is she okay?!"

"Yeah, Sashi and her family made it out okay, but the entire apartment is burning down!" Penn let out the breath he was holding in a sigh of relief. "You need to get down here, pronto!"

"Okay, I'm on my way!" Penn hung up and almost fell out of his bed as he rushed out of his room. "Aunt Rose! Uncle Chuck!"

* * *

Penn, Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck drove as fast as the speed limit would allow them over to Sashi's apartment, though they didn't have to get far for them to see the fire. As they got closer to Sashi's, the fire and smoke could be seen for miles around, blocking out the stars even more than the normal light pollution could ever do. Penn and his relatives couldn't believe their eyes when they turned onto the street to Sashi's: Firetrucks, police, ambulances and a forming crowd of onlookers were surrounding the area.

"Penn, I'll go find a place to park, while you go look for your friends," Penn nodded, as he picked up his loose jaw.

"Thanks, Uncle Chuck," Penn expressed his gratitude, before he quickly got out of the vehicle and made his way towards the crowd, praying that Sashi and her family were alright. Penn made it to the front of the crowd, only to be stopped by police tapes and officers trying to keep the crowd at bay, while the firemen and EMTs worked to put the fire out and get injured people safely to the hospital respectively. Penn took a good look at the apartment complex. There wasn't a spot on the building that was burnt or still burning. The faint sound of a fire alarm could still be heard coming from inside. Penn searched for Boone and Sashi as best as possible, but couldn't seem to find either of them anywhere.

"Penn! Over here!" Penn looked over to the sound of his name and saw Boone waving his arm at him, sitting right next to Sashi and her little brother. Penn went under the tape and ran over to his friends to check on them. Penn sighed, as he got a good look at them; neither was hurt nor even had any burned clothing. They looked perfectly fine, as they were both dressed for bed.

"Thank god, you're both okay," Penn spoke with joy, though the look on Sashi's face made Penn feel a little uneasy. Her face was unreadable, with a gaze that never seemed to leave the pavement in front of her and she had no expression to show at all. She seemed lost. Penn then realized two people were missing from Sashi and her brother. "Where are your parents?"

"We're right here," Penn turned around and saw both Mr. and Mrs. Kobayashi walking up to him and their children. Though Mr. Kobayashi was covered in soot and Mrs Kobayashi was dressed up for something, they were otherwise fine, with not a single burnt mark on their bodies.

"What happened?" Penn asked instinctively. Mr. Kobayashi scratched his head, as he sighed loudly.

"From what I heard from one of the firemen, it was probably an electrical fire, which is why the automated sprinklers didn't stop it, though no one seems to know where it started from," Mr. Kobayashi coughed out a bit of soot, while Mrs. Kobayashi dust a bit off from him.

"I was working late and just arrived a few minutes ago, so I'm just as lost as you are right now. I'm just glad you two are safe," Mrs. Kobayashi kneeled down and hugged her son and daughter tight, though Penn noticed that Sashi didn't really react to the hug at all.

"It's a good thing we got that renter's insurance on everything in our apartment or this could of been even worse for us."

Penn continued to look over at Sashi and noticed her begin to hide her face in her hands. But what struck him as weird was that she hadn't said a single word since he got here. Penn would of wrote it off as maybe her in shock, but considering who Sashi was, that wasn't very likely.

"Sashi, are you okay? You haven't said anything since I got here," Penn expected at least an "I'm fine, PZ" or something from her, but got nothing but silence from his friend.

"She hasn't said anything since _I_ got here, Penn and I've been here for a good twenty minutes," Boone spoke up, expressing his concern to Penn.

"She might be in shock," Penn heard Mr. Kobayashi speak and would have refuted that, but remembered that her family doesn't know about what Sashi actually does for a living. As far as they were concerned, their daughter worked at Fish Stick on a Stick, not working at the Odyssey as a part-time sidekick. Mrs. Kobayashi pulled her husband aside away from the kids, though Penn could still make out what they were talking about.

"In any case, it will take a while before we'll get our insurance payout for the damages, due to them always wanting to investigate a claim of insurance fraud, so we're going to have to find a temporary place to live really quickly in the meantime."

"You could stay at my house," Penn spoke without thinking. For the first time since he got there, Penn managed to get a reaction out of Sashi.

"You'll...do that?"

"Of course, Sashi. I can't leave one of my best friends out in the cold," Penn assured her, which left Sashi feel a bit better.

"I'm all for the idea," everyone turned to see Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose walking up to them.

"We would love to have you all stay until you're able to get your new home."

"Thank you so much," Mr. Kobayashi thanked Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose.

"We appreciate your hospitality," Mrs. Kobayashi happily added.

"The EMTs and police said we are free to leave when we please, so let leave as soon as possible. I really would like a shower," Mr. Kobayashi chuckled as he motioned to himself.

"He's right, we could freshen ourselves up after that ordeal we were just in," Mrs. Kobayashi agreed.

"So everyone is in agreement," said Uncle Chuck. "Follow us and make yourselves at home when we get there."

"Well then, I'll see you guys at school tomorrow. I should get back before my mom realizes I'm gone."

"Alright then, Boone. I'll see you tomorrow," Penn bid his friend a farewell, before Boone headed off to the opposite direction, running back to his home as fast as he could. As soon as his friend disappeared from sight, he turned his attention to Sashi. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I...guess so," Sashi somewhat agreed with Penn. Though he got her talking again, her troubled face made it hard to keep an optimistic attitude for her.

"I understand if you're not in the mood to talk right now," Penn did his best to assured her. "Right now, let's head back to my place and set everything up for you, your brother and your folks."

"...Sure," Sashi agreed.

* * *

"Here you go, everyone. Home sweet home," Aunt Rose declared out loud. "Our house is your house, at least until you've got all your personal business sorted out."

"Thanks again for allowing us to stay here," Mrs. Kobayashi thanked her. "I just wish we have some way to return the favor."

"Think nothing of it," Uncle Chuck assured her. "Let me show you where you'll be staying."

"Lead the way then," said Mr. Kobayashi, before he, his wife, son and daughter followed Uncle Chuck to the room that they'll be staying in, leaving just Penn and Aunt Rose in the living room.

"This is going to be something I'll have to get use to for now," said Penn, feeling a bit awkward all of a sudden. Aunt Rose placed a hand on her nephew's shoulder and gave a warm smile.

"Relax, Penn. It'll be just like any other time. The only difference is, we just have a few more people living here."

"I guess you're right, Aunt Rose," Penn looked away from his aunt, trying to think of something better to say.

"And don't worry about the Kobayashis, your uncle and I will help them settle for the night and together we'll all make sure they're comfortable here. Right now, you need to go to bed."

With that, Aunt Rose went to help her husband out, with Penn heading up to the bathroom before bed. After he had finished his business, he washed his hands and opened the door to find Sashi standing outside the bathroom, waiting to use it; he was hoping that a part of her old self would show up and for a moment, it seemed she was a bit lively, but where he was standing, it was hard to tell to be certain.

"All yours, Sash," Penn allowed her to use the bathroom, as she closed the door behind her, not even saying a 'thank you' to him. Penn was starting to get worried for her, but quickly shook his head, This was Sashi after all, the fierce sidekick who served as the voice of reason for him and Boone. She'll bounce back...

' _I'm sure Sashi will be back to her old self in no time,'_ Penn thought to himself, before he went to his bedroom once more and tried to get a good night sleep.

He had no idea how the next two weeks will turn out for him.

* * *

 **A/N Hello everyone, my name is UnKnownSalvation and I thank you for reading the first chapter of my first Penn Zero fic. Now for those who've read my works in other sections, don't take this as a return from hiatus so much as something I want to do later. An experiment if you will to see if any of my ideas have any real merit to continue when college isn't affecting my work rate. I'll decide on what I'll do with this based primarily on whether or not you guys and gals think this story has potential. So let me know if you think.**

 **Till then, Sal out!**


	2. Ch 2: Prying

**Ch. 2: Prying**

Penn woke up much like any other day to the obnoxiously loud, monotone beeps of his alarm clock, before he pulled himself out from his bed with a groggy sigh and walked over to his closet, putting on his clothes for the day. He opened the door to the hallway and was immediately greeted by the smell of a freshly cooked breakfast. But as he went downstairs, the events of last night were suddenly brought to the forefront of his mind.

At the dining table sat the Kobayashis, reminding Penn of everything that happened: the fire, the invite for Sashi's family to stay at his home…

" _Sashi,"_ Penn looked over to see her ready for school, but she still seemed distant, staring at her empty plate in the same manner as last night. Penn saw an open seat next to her, so he took it and sat down. "Morning, everyone," Penn spoke out with a smile.

"Morning, Penn!" The room was filled with the sounds of warm greetings. Penn turned to his left and nudged Sashi a little, to see if she was okay; It seemed to work, as she was pulled from her thoughts and looked towards her friend. "Morning Sash. You feeling a bit better today?" Penn tried his best to sound comforting, so he could at least get her to talk to him.

"A bit…" though it was quiet, it was at least a response. Penn wanted to say more to Sashi, hoping to keep the conversation alive, but Aunt Rose was setting breakfast down on the table for everyone to take a piece of her cooking, preventing him from continuing.

"Eat up, everyone. There's plenty more where that came from!" everyone began to fill their plates, before digging in. Penn wanted to get Sashi alone, so she'll be more open to it, before he could really get into what was bothering her so much. Sure, her apartment burned down, but this seemed so not like Sashi at all; there had to be more than this. Maybe he could get her to talk later.

* * *

On any other day, the bus ride to school wouldn't be interesting, if it didn't turned into quite the spectacle that it became. Everyone was talking about the fire last night, as it was all over the news, but no one knew that Sashi lived in that apartment building, so they weren't really aware of how Penn, Boone and Sashi were feeling. Penn sat next to Sashi, with Boone in the seat across the aisle from them. The trio didn't speak a word to each other outside of the occasional person asking if they knew about the fire.

At school itself, the three finally got time to talk just before class.

"So, how's staying at Penn's house, Sash?" Boone asked, hoping to get a conversation going between them.

"It's fine," Sashi's tone was cold, which was expected, but it still didn't explain yesterday. Penn knew he couldn't be too blunt with it, but he had to try it at some point. After looking around to see how many people would be looking at their direction, Penn decided to try it now.

"Sash, this isn't like you. You're normally not so…devastated about things like this."

"Well, you've never had your home burn to the ground twice in your life, have you, Zero!" now that was a reaction Penn didn't see coming. Sashi slammed her locker and stormed off with her books, leaving the two alone with their jaws on the floor.

"Wait, this happened before?" Boone managed to speak out, but he didn't really process it very well.

"I had no idea…" Penn looked at his feet, as he spoke softly. He knew nothing about losing a home twice in his life, but he still felt nothing but sympathy for his friend. His face turned serious as he looked at Boone. "We need to go find her."

"Can't we ask someone who won't beat the ever living man-piss out of us? I don't think we'd make it out unscathed if we asked her now," Penn started to think and realized that he had two such individuals living in his house.

"We'll have to ask her parents about it then."

"Now that's a plan I can get behind," Penn and Boone got their stuff for first period and headed off to class. Penn was unaware that with one sentence, had unleashed a monster.

* * *

Penn and Boone managed to make their way to class in the nick of time, taking their seats and getting ready for today's lessons. But then, the duo noticed that most of their classmates were whispering to each other, something that rarely happened, even behind the teacher's back.

"Um...what's going on?" Penn curiously asked one of his classmates, prompting him to turn around and face him.

"Did you hear?"

"...Hear what?" for some reason, Penn had a feeling that he was going to regret getting his answer.

"The apartment that burned down last night. Apparently, Sashi used to live there."

Penn's face became pale when his classmate responded back to him like that. How did he and everyone else in the classroom found out that the apartment was Sashi's? That was until he realized _he_ was the reason, causing him to face palm.

"Um, Penn…" Boone spoke up, snapping his friend back to reality, before he pointed his arm out to Sashi; she no longer had the distant stare she had this morning, but seething rage instead.

' _Oh crap!'_ both Penn and Boone realized what was about to happen. The same couldn't be said to their classmate, who turned his attention to Sashi.

"So Sashi, what happened back at your apartment? How did you-" his sentence was cut off when Sashi punched him hard in the face, knocking back to his seat before slamming his face down on the desk. As soon as everyone saw this, they ceased their conversations and remained quiet, just as the teacher finally looked up to see what was going on.

"Mr. Adams! If you wish to take a nap, do it on your time, not mine!" The dazed student just mumbled a bit to the teacher's commands. The teacher then resumed doing his business, giving up on caring, while Penn, Boone and everyone remained silent for the majority of their time in class.

* * *

The school bell finally rang after what seemed like an eternity and for once, everyone was grateful to hear the sound of the bell, as they all rushed outside like there was no tomorrow. Everyone except for Penn, Boone and Sashi, as the trio walked out of class, as they headed towards their next period, with the guys becoming concerned for their friend.

"Sashi, I don't blame you for being angry right now, but if you talk about it, then we might be able to help," Penn reasoned with her.

"Yeah, Sashi, just tell us how you feel right now," Boone said, before Sashi stopped in her track and turned to face him and Penn.

"Alright, I'll tell you how I feel…" she cleared her throat up, before responding back. "I want you and Penn...to **SHUT UP** until school is over!" Sashi then turned her attention to the rest of her classmates, who no doubt heard her outburst. Every student fearfully nodded in agreement, backing up to their lockers "And the same goes with everyone else! You two think you can help?! Can you rebuild a destroyed home?! Fix broken memories?! Replace precious items?!"

Penn and Boone couldn't find any words to say as Sashi just tore them to shreds, both in body and in heart. Sashi turned away to continue walking to her next class, leaving Penn and Boone standing in shock, but not before they heard the barely audible conversations that their fellow peers were quietly saying to each other.

"Man, that Sashi girl has an attitude problem."

"You saw what she did to that kid today in class."

"Just stay quiet and don't get near her, unless you're considering suicide."

Both Penn and Boone simply shook their heads to their classmates' gossips. None of them truly know how Sashi was feeling right now. But then, they didn't either, but they certainly wouldn't jump to conclusions either.

"If they only know Sashi the way we know her," Boone quietly said to Penn.

"You and me both," Penn then let out a sigh. "I swear, this can't get any worse."

"Oh it always can get worse. Let's hope it's something easy in PE," Penn's eyes widened when he realized PE was their next class and what that meant.

"Wait... Today's Friday, isn't it?"

"Yeah?"

"Boone... That's dodgeball day!" Both of the boys instantly felt nothing less than fear and dread. The hell that awaited the unlucky souls of the 9th grade class was the stuff of nightmares... and they had to walk right into it.

* * *

After what felt like eons, school was at last finished for today, with everyone heading back home until tomorrow, while Penn, Boone and Sashi were on their way to the Odyssey, with the boys walking at least ten feet behind their friend, giving themselves enough time to react in case she turned on them next.

"Well, this could have been better," Boone muttered under his breath as he held an icepack to his cheek.

"Don't remind me," Penn added as he rubbed his sore arm, before he looked back at Sashi, still having that perpetual frown on her face, before and after school. Seeing her in such a state left him with great concern for her. "How could anyone stay in such a bad mood for the entire day? I thought for sure Sashi would be back to her old self by this morning…or at least she would start faking that nothing was wrong."

"I think it has something to do with everyone talking about-" Boone's words were cut off when Sashi went straight up to his face, much to his discomfort.

"Do you want a death sentence?!"

"N-No, Sashi, I-I wasn't talking about your home or something!" Sashi continued to stare down at Boone, before she backed off, allowing Boone some room to breath, before Penn lean towards his ears.

"You know what happened to the last twenty students that talked about last night. Do you want to be her twenty-first victim? I don't want my best friend added to the body count."

"I was just saying, that's all," Boone defended himself.

"Tell that to everyone back in the gym," Penn reminded his friend.

"I thought it wasn't ever going to end," said Boone, recalling what happened in gym. "The things she did with those dodgeballs is the kind of things I'm going to have PTSD over. No human should ever have to see that..."

"We got to do something to cheer up Sashi. I can't stand her seeing like this," Penn peaked around the corner to see Sashi for a moment, before looking back at Boone. He was just relieved she didn't hear their conversation.

"Wait, I know. Maybe a mission would help her," Boone suggested. "That way, she can take her anger out on Rippen and Larry instead on us."

"Aw man, why would you want to do that to Larry? I don't care if Rippen gets beaten to a pulp, but Larry? What'd he ever do to you?"

"Us or them, Penn. Us or them."

"...When you put it that way, I guess that does sound good," Penn concluded. At this point, any options will have to do, for Sashi's sake.

"So it's settled: to the Odyssey!" Boone declared, before he and his friends headed to the theater, ready for another mission. For Penn, though, he hoped something good would come out of it.

* * *

The three walked into the Odyssey, with Penn and Boone maintaining a safe distance from Sashi. Though she looked much calmer, her frown and sharp stare were still very much there. They all clocked in and were met by the owner of the Odyssey herself.

"Sorry to hear about your home, Sashi," Phyllis expressed her sympathy or at least as best as a monotone voice could anyway.

"Save it, Phyllis. I don't want to talk about it," Penn and Boone joined Sashi, as they stepped on their assigned pads.

"Fine then, no more talk. Try these on," Phyllis grabbed a set of specs that looked identical to Sashi's normal ones and had a mechanical arm deliver the new specs to Sashi. "These are outfitted with onboard scanners. It's a prototype, so let me know if any bugs happen. Today, you will go on mission to Old London Town World, so it will be a good chance to test out the new scanner upgrade to Sashi's specs. Good luck," Phyllis tinkered with the MUT, before firing a beam at the trio and zapping them to their mission.

* * *

Old London Town World was everything that Penn and his friends had expected: fog so thick that it took them a few seconds to find where each other were, lamppost that barely lit at all and the overall atmosphere was dreary and dark, just like everyone in this world. Regardless of what kind of world they were in, though, they were sent here to stop Rippen from his latest scheme.

"This would be a lot better if we have more lights around here," Penn complained, causing Sashi to sigh, before brightening up the area with her specs. "Thanks Sash, that was much better." Sashi, however, didn't reply back, slightly annoying Penn, but not enough to get mad at her. Penn cleared his throat nervously before getting down to business. "Okay Sash, check the specs."

Sashi simply nodded, before she activated her specs to check about the world they were in and who they were as well.

"You are the great detective Sherlock Holmes, I am your assistant Watson and Boone is Inspector Lestrade. Our job is to solve the robbery of the Dundee Diamond, the most expensive piece of jewelry in all of England," Sashi's tone was a bit more calm and focused, though it could have easily been chalked up by her usual extreme focus on a mission.

"Sweet! We get to be detectives!" Boone enthusiastically shouted. "Though let's hope this goes better than the last time you were a detective."

"Anyway, I have no doubt Rippen is behind this…" Penn began, attempting to ignore Boone's comment. "We should head to the scene of the crime to see if we can find any clues."

"We're on it! And when we're done, we can go buy some of that neat Big Ben merch!" said Boone, before Penn and Sashi shot Boone unamused looks, silencing him. He hung his head as he followed Penn to where the crime took place.

* * *

Arriving at the scene of the crime on foot was rather easy, as all it took for them was to spot a large crowd of police officers gathered around Buckingham Palace, interviewing the witnesses about what had occurred, as well as interrogating possible suspects.

"Well...that was easier than I thought," Boone muttered, following Penn and Sashi to the palace, before they came face to face with a nearby officer.

"Aw, the great Sherlock Holmes, I'm so glad you made it here," the officer expressed his relief.

"What can you tell me about the Dundee Diamond?" Penn asked the officer, who cleared his throat up, before answering back.

"As you might probably know by now, the Dundee Diamond is the most expensive piece of jewelry in all of England. It was previously locked in the Queen's most secured location, her collection room and yet, it somehow managed to be taken without alerting the guards at all. I dare say, it was very mysterious that it was stolen just like that."

"Wait, "Dundee"? Isn't that the name of a scottish city?" The officer nodded to Penn's question before Penn continued. "What would anyone want to use the Dundee Diamond for?" Penn questioned further, with Boone snickering upon hearing the word "Dundee".

"It's possible the scoundrel plans to sell it to the highest bidder in the black market. But then again, there are so many possibilities for the Dundee Diamond."

"Many possibilities you say?" at that moment, the officer arched an eyebrow, before staring back at Penn suspiciously.

"Are you really the great Sherlock Holmes who's said to be able to solve any case, because you've been asking a lot of questions that I think you could have figured out on your own."

Penn was starting to get nervous; though he was technically Sherlock Holmes, he wasn't the famous detective to begin with. One slip out of his tongue and their mission would be over before it could truly be solved.

"Well, um, you see…" was all Penn could get out of, before Sashi approached the officer and grabbed him by the collar.

"So what if he's asking too many questions? Maybe we're just checking to make sure you're still capable of doing your jobs."

"A-Alright, if you say so! I was just curious!" the officer's panicked answer was enough to please Sashi, who then promptly let go of his collar, as the officer dust himself. "T-To answer your question, there is a slight chance that it can be taken for themselves as it's said the diamond can work as a power source like a lightning bolt. Like I said, these are just many possibilities." After finishing his explanation, the officer excused himself and made a hasty retreat away from the wrath of Sashi.

"Glad to see the entire police force has to share one backbone amongst themselves."

"Sashi, was that really necessary?" Boone asked her with concern. "I mean, you almost blew your own cover as Watson."

"You got a problem with that?" Sashi asked back, before simply walking to the area where the Dundee Diamond was stolen, not bothering to hear an answer from her friend.

"Let's just get this over with," Penn said and let out a sigh, before he and Boone followed Sashi inside, hoping to find enough clues to stop Rippen and fast.

* * *

The trio arrived at the Queen's private collection room, which ranged from priceless paintings to collections of faberge eggs, among others. But one particular display, though, stuck out among the collections and to the trio, there was no doubt that it used to house the Dundee Diamond, with shards of glasses laid all over the floor, a good indication that it had been smashed to get the jewelry,

"Just like Rippen: Takes your stuff and doesn't even bother to be subtle about it," Penn commented, as he examined the scene. "Sash, use your new specs scanner to see if he or Larry left any clues around."

Sashi nodded and activated her specs, examining the room for any clues that Rippen or Larry could have leave lying around, while they were stealing the Dundee Diamond.

"Anything?" Boone asked, causing Sashi to glare back at him. "Sorry, I was just checking." Boone said in his defence as Sashi continued to examine the room, while Boone helped Penn out.

"Still got any clues on what Rippen needs the Dundee Diamond for?" Boone asked, before snickering once more when he said 'Dundee'.

"Beats me, Boone," Penn replied with a shrug. "To be honest, I really wish I have the real Sherlock Holme's intelligence right now. It would make things easier for us."

"I think I might have found something," Sashi calmly said, prompting Penn and Boone to look back at her.

"What is it, Sash?"

"Apparently, while they were trying to rob the Dundee Diamond, one of them thought it was a good idea to touch everything in here," in order to prove her point, Sashi used her specs to recreate what had transpired in the collection room, much to Penn and Boone's amazement. Her specs continued to project a holographic image of Rippen and Larry dressed in English high class wear though for whatever reason, the animation on the two was stiff and uncanny like two puppets handled by a drunk puppetmaster or an exaggerated robot dance. Their faces never changed expressions regardless of what they were doing at the time, only worsening the effect.

The former was smashing the display that held the Dundee Diamond with a vase, while the latter was touching the plates, the faberge eggs, the paintings… anything that wasn't in a display and only stopped when Rippen grabbed him by the arm, before the projection ended right there.

"Phyllis even added a replay function to those things. That's pretty cool! How does it do that?" Boone commented.

"You want to know, then you can go have Phyllis bore you with the details," Sashi's tone was cold as ice, as she stared down at Boone.

"Well, at least we know what happened inside here," Penn spoke up, getting the investigation back on track, "But we still don't have any ideas where they went," Penn pointed out, until something clicked in his mind. "Sashi, play that back again," Sashi pulled out the projection of the hologram Rippen and Larry once more, as Penn started to inspect them. It was then that he saw something had fallen out of Rippen's pocket. Penn walked over to the spot where the object fell. As he was searching, his foot had bumped into something: a pocket watch with a Big Ben engraved on it.

' _I wonder…'_ Penn thought, before he looked outside and saw Big Ben, then looked back at the pocket watch and vice versa, before he was able to piece the puzzle at last.

"I think I know where Rippen is!"

* * *

Big Ben, one of London's most iconic buildings, seen by many of the locals as instantly recognizable on sight. But for Rippen, it was the best place to serve as his hideout and to unleash his nefarious scheme on this world.

"At last, Larry! I have the Dundee Diamond at my hands!" Rippen declared out loud, holding the diamond up in the air with admiration, while Larry did his best to hold his laughter down when the word "Dundee" was brought up.

' _He said "Dundee",'_ Larry thought, trying his best to hold his laughter down.

"What's so funny?" Rippen asked, curious to what Larry was snickering about, as if he was laughing at him.

"Oh, it's nothing," Larry replied, calming himself down, before speaking up. "So Rippen, what are you going to do with it? Take it back home with you?"

"That would be tempting, Larry, but I got something better for its use!" Rippen then pulled down a sheet nearby, revealing a deadly looking ray gun for Larry to see. "With the Dundee Diamond, I can use it to power this device and use it against her Royal Majesty, unless my demands of one million pounds are met at midnight."

"What do we need one million pounds for?" Larry asked once more, but before Rippen could answer his minion, he heard a familiar voice of his archenemy.

"He's going to need them to pay for the medical bills when we're done with him," At this point, Penn, Boone and Sashi made their presence known.

"That seems like a pretty hefty bill," said Larry as he tried to think of how a bill would add up to a million pounds, while Rippen looked at his nemesis and his friends in fury.

"You and your friends won't stop me this time! I've got what I need to get rid of you and this time you can't just make it fall over and shatter!"

"Actually, we've been stopping you like dozens of times," Boone stated, prompting Rippen to put the Dundee Diamond into the ray gun and aimed it right at the trio.

"In that case, your time is up!" soon, Rippen began to shoot lasers at the trio, barely dodging the blast on time, as they each took cover to avoid getting zapped by Rippen's ray gun.

"Okay we're outgunned, out of range, and losing cover fast. If anyone has an idea on stopping Rippen, now's the time," Penn called out to his friends.

"Before we ended up as fried chicken!" Boone added.

While the guys tried to figure out their next course of action, Sashi, on the other hand, immediately got out of her cover and charged right towards Rippen, not caring about her safety at all.

"Sashi!" Penn cried out in fear, as he watched her continuing to charge right at Rippen, all the while avoiding the laser beams from the ray gun.

"Hold still already!" Rippen shouted, desperately trying to shoot Sashi down, but no matter how many shots he made, she continued to dodge his attacks. Eventually, she got close enough for her to knock him out of the ray gun's reach.

' _Oh no!'_ Rippen thought, before Sashi sucker punched him in the face, sending him down to the floor, completely dazed. Unable to get up from it, Sashi approached him and quickly picked him up by the collar, forcing Rippen to stare right at her face.

"Looks like we beaten you at your own game again! Do you have something to say about that?!" Rippen didn't answered back, though, still dazed by the sucker punch Sashi gave him. "No matter, here's something to remind you the next time you try to take over the world!" Sashi gripped her hand into a tight knuckle and raised it up in the air and immediately went to town on Rippen's face. Penn and Boone rushed towards Sashi and immediately restrained her, forcing Sashi to let go of Rippen.

"Hey, let me go! I had it under control!"

"No way, Sashi! As much as he deserves it, we can't let you do that! What's gotten into you?!"

"Yeah, that was not cool at all! Okay, it was cool at first, but not at the end!" Penn shot Boone a glare that only could say "Not helping, Boone!".

Sashi continued to struggle, forcing Penn and Boone to tighten their grips much longer on her than they had planned. Eventually, Penn managed to trap both of Sashi's arms behind her back and had to basically lift her out, while Boone picked up the Dundee Diamond from the ray gun and headed out to the exit, with Sashi kicking and screaming for Penn to let her go.

"Rippen, are you okay?!" Larry worriedly asked, approaching his friend with concern.

"But mommy, I'm too old to drink milk anymore..." was all Rippen could say back through dazed consciousness.

* * *

 **A/N: And the winner by knockout in the first round, "Mad Dashi" Sashi Kobayashi! Oh and because I know this is probably going to come up: Rippen is Moriarty and Larry is offically (to me anyway) "Random Mook #1".**

 **So how'd we do for the experiment? Definitely better than I was anticipating. This isn't exactly the most high traffic area on the site so I wasn't expecting too many people to see it. Show's what I know. I'd like to thank all of you for telling me you'd like to see more of this story so I'll try to update once a week every monday.**

 **Now for the one guest review.**

 **The Unnamed: Fascinating story, Your Majesty. I appreciate all your kind words and find it amusing you're looking at this story like void filler for the between-seasons hiatus though don't expect it to be a long one. :) I honestly wish I had more to say about your review because it looks like you put a lot of work into that but words seem to fail me here. The irony is overflowing.**

 **I'd like to thank all of you for participating in my little experiment and I promise to bring you more till the end. Also don't think the most obvious explanation is the right one. Next two chapters will be some of the heavier of the story so look forward to it.**

 **Till next time, Sal out!**


	3. Ch 3: Answers

**Ch. 3: Answers**

Penn, Sashi, and Boone returned from their mission after they brought back the Dundee Diamond back to its proper place, though the trio was far from happy from their success. Penn was worried about Sashi, Sashi was going ballistic and Boone wanted to get behind something made of indestructium as soon as possible.

"Sashi, what were you thinking?!" Penn demanded an answer out of her. "You almost sent Rippen into a coma! Not that I care much about him, but still, you crossed the line!"

"So what if I did, huh? Last time I checked, he's the reason you don't have any parents right now!" Sashi argued, causing Penn to sigh exasperatedly, mostly due to disbelief that Sashi pulled that card on him.

"That's still no excuse for what you did back there!"

"And I suppose you could handle Rippen differently with your back to a chest high wall?!"

"At least it would have been better than beating Rippen with an inch of his life!"

Before either of them knew it, they were quickly hurling insults to each other, accusing the other of how they should have handled the mission differently, while Boone looked on from twenty feet away with several rows of seats between him and them, uncertain on how to end their arguments.

"Well... this escalated quickly," Boone simply commented, still keeping a distance from Penn and Sashi's argument. But just as things were about to become very terrible...

"What is happening?" Penn and Sashi ceased their arguments and along with Boone, turned to see Phyllis approaching them with her usual stern expression on her face.

"Well... Phyllis…" Boone began, unsure of what to say next. "You see-"

"It was nothing," Sashi quickly replied, cutting Boone off. "The mission was a success." She then walked out of the theater lobby and headed towards the exit, not saying a single word and not looking back at her friends.

"I leave for five minutes for bathroom break and hell breaks loose? What happened?" Phyllis asked, genuinely concerned about Sashi's behavior.

"Too many things, Phyllis. Too many things," Penn replied, looking down on the floor sadly.

* * *

Penn and Boone walked back to Penn's house without Sashi, unsure where she had gone to. As much as they wanted to go find her, she needed to be alone, as they had another objective in mind. After such a long walk, they finally arrived at their destination, opening the front door and walked inside, where they saw Mr. Kobayashi sitting down on the couch.

"Hello, you two," Mr. Kobayashi warmly greeted the duo.

"Hello, Mr. Kobayashi," Penn greeted back.

"Hey, Mr. Kobayashi," Boone simply greeted.

"You two can just call me Sylvester while we're staying here." Mr. Kobayashi insisted, before he noticed the duo's lack of enthusiasm from their faces, much to his surprise. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked sincerely.

"It's... been a rough day," Penn replied.

"Very rough, Sylvester," Boone added.

"I see…" Sylvester began, before he became serious. "Something happened between you two and Sashi, hasn't it?" The boys were somewhat stunned that the older Kobayashi managed to deduce what was bothering them just like that, but there was no point in hiding in. It was better for them to come clean with Sylvester, even if it was just the partial truth.

"You could say that," Penn replied, hoping to at least keep the fact that he's the one who set her off in the first place a secret.

"She's been made since Penn was asking questions about the apartments," Boone admitted, causing Penn to glare at his traitorous friend and Sylvester to become sad, as he stared at the floor.

"I don't blame her for feeling that way," Sylvester statement intrigued Penn, arching his eyebrow in curiosity, as he spoke up.

"Is it because this is the second time this has happened?" Sylvester sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"...Are you sure you want to continue this conversation, Penn?" Sylvester asked, with a bit of weariness in his tone.

"Yes, sir. We want to help Sashi, but we can't do that if we don't know anything," Penn insisted.

"Also, we'd like to be in the same room as Sashi and not fear for our lives," Boone added.

Sylvester looked at the boys very seriously, before he took a deep breath, ready to give them an explanation, if it was the only way to help his daughter out.

"So what do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters, Sashi mentioned that this wasn't the first time it happened," Penn explained.

"She didn't really mention it so much as chew you out with it," Boone commented, recalling Sashi's remark back at school, prompting Penn to glare at him in annoyance. "That's what happened today!" Boone defensively said.

Penn simply let out a sigh and decided to brush off Boone's last statement, just as Sylvester spoke up once more.

"It all began when Sashi was just four years old, right before we moved to Middleburg."

"That was ten years ago," Boone stated the obvious.

"Thank you, Boone. We would never have come to that conclusion without you," Penn buried his face in his hand as he snarked, while Sylvester cleared his throat to get the story back on track.

"As I mentioned earlier, my family and I didn't live in Middleburg, at least, until the day our old home was caught on fire."

"What was the cause and how does it relate to Sashi?" Penn asked.

"It was like any other night…" Sylvester began, trying his best to remember what happened ten years ago.

* * *

 **Ten years ago…**

It was just like any other night at the Kobayashi residence; Sylvester, along with Tia and Sashi, we're watching Sashi's favorite TV show: Super Ultra Fighting Titans. It wasn't perfect, but this was a good time for them to bond with each other as a family.

"Go Pink Titan!" Sashi cheered on, as her favorite character was beating one unfortunate mook after another. "Serves them right for messing with you!"

"Now Sashi, that's not very nice," Tia slightly scolded her daughter.

"Don't worry, Tia. Sashi was just showing her support for the good guys," Sylvester assured his wife, before Sashi quickly shushed her parents, as her favorite moment was about to show up.

"Hurry Pink Titan, show them your Ultra Sword!"

For their part, Sylvester and Tia remained silence and continued to happily watched Super Ultra Fighting Titans with their daughter, who was having fun getting _really_ into the program.

* * *

Almost thirty minutes had passed and by now, it was nearly getting dark at their home, as Sylvester and Tia took Sashi up to her bedroom upstairs, who was starting to feel tired, despite protesting about it.

"But mommy and daddy, I'm not…" Sashi began, letting out a big yawn, before speaking up once more. "Tired. I don't want to go to bed!"

"Sashi, it's almost your bedtime," Tia reminded her daughter. "You need to save your energy for tomorrow."

"But-"

"It's okay, Sashi. If you're afraid of the dark, we understand. We'll make sure nothing bad will happen to you," Sylvester assured her, before he approached the nightlight and dimmed the light low, small enough so it wouldn't keep Sashi awake all night

"Does that make you feel better?" asked Tia.

"...Yes, mommy," Sashi replied as her mother tucked her in

"Very good, Sashi. Now have a good night sleep."

"Okay. Good night, mommy. Good night, daddy," Sashi then closed her eyes, as she started to sleep, while Sylvester and Tia slowly closed her bedroom door and went off to their bedroom, ready for some shut eye of their own. Little do they realized that this night was about to change them forever.

* * *

Sylvester and Tia didn't know how they had slept, but without warning, the couple heard a small scream causing them both to sit up suddenly. They also smelled something very peculiar in their bedroom; the smell was rather...noxious, as if the air was starting to become unbearable and their room was starting to heat up. It only took them a second to realize the room _was_ starting to heat up.

' _Oh no!'_ Sylvester thought, before he and his wife quickly woke up and sure enough, smoke was already filling up their bedroom, the wall was heating up and they could hear the sound of fire crackling behind the door.

"What happened?!" Tia frantically asked her husband, before she and Tia heard Sashi's crying down the hallway.

"Sashi!" both Sylvester and Tia shouted in horror, before they quickly opened their bedroom door, only to find that the entire hallway was partially engulfed by flames. Despite being shocked by the sight, the couple shook their heads and grabbed their blankets, wrapping them around themselves as cover, before walking down the hallway as bravely as they could.

"Hang on Sashi, we're coming for you!" Sylvester shouted, before he and his wife finally approached their daughter's bedroom, as Sylvester kicked the door down, to see Sashi on the floor crying in the corner, her face and pajama covered in soot, but was otherwise uninjured, to the couple's relief, before they approached her.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Sylvester expressed his relief, before he and his wife approached Sashi.

"Sashi, what happened?" Tia worriedly asked her daughter.

Before Sashi could give her mother an answer, the roof of the house suddenly collapsed, with parts of it blocking the bedroom entrance, preventing the family from leaving.

"Oh no, we're trapped!" Tia shouted in horror, before Sylvester noticed the bedroom window nearby.

"Not for long! Tia, grab Sashi, we're going to jump!" Sylvester announced.

"Wha-"

"There's no time to argue! Just stay close to me!" both Tia and Sashi did as they were told, before all three ran to the window and jumped out from the second floor, far away from the fire. Miraculously, there was a tall tree right next to the window, with the branches breaking down their fall, softening the family's landing by the time they reached to the ground.

"Is everyone alright?!" Sylvester asked out loud, as he and his family got up.

"I think so," Tia replied, before looking back at what was once their home. "But our house isn't."

All the Kobayashi could do was stand and watched, as their home continued to be consumed by the fire, unable to do anything about it at all.

* * *

Several minutes had passed since the fire consumed their home, as the firefighters were putting out the remaining flames that were still blazing. As the Kobayashi found out, one of their neighbors saw their home was on fire and called the fire department about it. But by the time they arrived, the damage was already done and the Kobayashis were now homeless, as they sat down on the sidewalk, with blankets given to them by the firefighters for warmth and cover.

"What are we going to do, Sylvester?" asked Tia. "We have nothing but the clothes on our back!"

"Don't worry Tia, we'll be okay," Sylvester assured his panicked-stricken wife, before he saw Sashi looking down on the pavement sadly. "Sashi, what's wrong?" Sashi only grunted defiantly. "Sashi...?" Sylvester asked sternly.

"I-I don't wanna talk about it."

"Whatever it is, we'll understand," Tia assured her daughter, before she and Sylvester gave her a warm smile. Sashi let out a sigh, before facing her parents, ready to give them an explanation.

"I...I couldn't go to sleep at all and I was too afraid of the dark to go to you and daddy. I approached the nightlight to make it brighter, but…"

"But what?" Sylvester asked, as he arched his eyebrow.

"...The nightlight suddenly broke and I saw some light coming out of the socket and landing on the carpet. At first, nothing happened, but I saw fire rising up from the floor and it began to spread all over the place. I...I didn't know how to stop it. I was too scared!"

Sashi then cried once more, while Sylvester and Tia hugged their daughter in reassurance, attempting to calm their daughter as best as they could.

"There, there, dear. It wasn't your fault."

"Everything will be alright, dear. Everything will be alright."

* * *

Penn and Boone were quite shocked of what Sylvester had told them so far: Sashi was the cause of the first fire and she's the one that destroyed her old home. She was beating herself up all this time for it. They had to admit, she never let it show.

"But Sylvester, what Sashi did was just an accident. She had no way of knowing what was about to happen," Penn reasoned.

"Why doesn't she just forget about it and moved on?" asked Boone.

"...Let's just say there's a reason she never went to preschool…or kindergarten," Sylvester replied with a sigh.

* * *

Word about the Kobayashi residence spread from one neighbor after another and soon, it became a major topic for the residents to talk about, some theorizing on what caused the Kobayashi house to burn down, from gas leaks that seeped out from worn-out pipes to flammable materials that were built into the walls sparked by faulty wiring.

But their discussions did nothing to improve Sashi's demeanor; for her, it was nothing but a constant reminder of what happened on that fateful night. No matter where goes, everyone was talking about what happened to her home. All of it reminding her of why she has no home now. All Sashi wanted was for it to go away.

"Don't worry about it, Sashi. They'll eventually forget about it," Sylvester attempted to cheer his daughter up. Sashi didn't say a word about it nor did she smile.

"Perhaps we should take our daughter somewhere that is less... talkative," Tia suggested to her husband.

"I agree," Sylvester said to his wife. "I say we go to the park. You love the park, don't you? What do you say, Sashi?"

"...Okay," Sashi answered.

"To the park it is," Sylvester declared, before Tia, Sashi and he went off to their destination.

* * *

Much to their relief, there weren't that much people around, save for a few parents and some of their kids playing on the jungle gym and in the sand box. It wasn't much, but at least there weren't many people talking about their house.

' _This is more like it,'_ Sylvester thought, before he looked at his daughter. "Go right ahead, Sashi. We'll keep an eye on you."

Sashi simply nodded her head to her father, before she headed to the monkey gym, intending to play on the monkey bars. But before she could do so, however, a boy around her age appeared out of nowhere and approached her with curiosity.

"Didn't you used to live in the house that got burned down?" his question took Sashi by surprise: How did this kid know that? She felt her fist clench up before responding back to him.

"...Why?"

The next thing she knew, the boy happily smiled to this and started to ask her many, many questions about her home, insensitive to how she might feel, but ignorant of why it's not a good thing to ask.

"How did you and your parents get out of your home?"

"How did the fire started?"

"When did your house started to burn down?"

Each question the young boy asked did nothing but upset Sashi more and more with each word coming out of this boy's mouth feeling like a poke from a sharp stick in her chest. Soon, the sadness on her face was replaced by anger and her fists began to shake violently. Likewise, her parents noticed her sudden change in demeanor and sensed something amiss was about to happen. But what happened next took them by complete surprise.

"Why did the fire-"

The boy didn't finished his sentence, however, as Sashi punched him in the nose hard enough to take the boy off his feet, sending him down on the sands with a thud, before she saw two adults on the bench, watching them with complete shock on their faces, just as her parents approached her.

"Sashi, why did you do that?!" Tia demanded.

"You shouldn't have punched him like that!" Sylvester expressed his disappointment.

Before Sashi could defend her action, the boy began to cry from the pain, while his parents approached the Kobayashis, no longer in shock, but expressing anger on their faces instead.

"What's wrong with that girl of yours?!"

"She should have taught her some manners"

"Don't talk about my daughter like that!" an upset Tia protested. "I know what she did was wrong, but she's not terrible!"

"We understand you're upset, and we don't blame you for that," said Sylvester. "But Sashi didn't attack your son without some reason."

Soon, the adults were arguing back and forth about the other's own child, while Sashi looked down on the ground in sadness once more, ashamed of what she had done.

* * *

"I'm so sorry that had to happened," Penn expressed his sympathy.

"I'm sure the air was cleared up by then," said Boone.

"Wishful thinking that reality doesn't support, I'm afraid. It didn't matter to them; as far as they were concerned, our daughter was the bully and their son was the victim," Sylvester then took a deep breath, before resuming with his explanation. "It didn't help that our attempt to enroll Sashi to preschool made it more difficult for her…"

* * *

A week had passed since the incident at the park, but for Sashi, she just wanted to forget about it; after all, she was going to be enrolled at preschool for the very first time and she was quite nervous about it.

"It's alright, sweetie. It's normal to be nervous," Tia comforted her daughter.

"Just be yourself and I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends," Sylvester attempted to encourage Sashi.

Sashi gave her parents a small smile and nodded, before she said her goodbyes and went to the building, where she was greeted by what she assumed to be the teacher, who gave her a big smile for her.

"Ah, so you must be little Sashi that's coming to our class. Don't be shy, sweetie, come follow me," Sashi simply nodded, before she followed the teacher to the classroom. "Class, I want you to meet your new classmate, Sashi Kobayashi."

Sashi smiled shyly and waved her hands back at the rest of the kids. Unfortunately, a certain boy from the park noticed Sashi and spoke up with displeasure.

"Hey, you're the bully who hit me!"

The moment he said this out loud, the rest of his classmates started to talk with each other.

"That's her?"

"But she seems nice."

"If he says she's a bully, then she must be one."

Sashi's smile soon faded with shock and disappointment. Although it was her first day at preschool, she had already given them a bad impression of herself to them. She had no idea just how bad it was going to get.

* * *

A bell finally rang, as the kids came out of their classroom, ready to have a fun and exciting day on the playground. Everyone but Sashi, that is.

All day long, no one around her said a single word to her and when Sashi did tried to talk to them; they either glared back at her or simply walked away from her. No matter what she did, none of them wanted to make friends with her at all; she was considered a bully and nothing more. It seemed that this day couldn't get any worse.

"Hey you!" Sashi turned around and saw the boy, along with a few of his classmates, approaching her. "Are you going to punch me again?"

"You shouldn't have been asking all those questions!" Sashi insisted.

"I was just asking," the boy dismissed her claim.

"So what are you going to do about, meanie?" another classmate spoke.

"I wasn't-"

"Leave him alone, bully!"

"Jerk!"

"Meanie girl!"

One by one, the boy and his classmates did nothing but taunting and calling her names, as Sashi stood there, her eyes swelling up in tears and finding herself unable to say anything back. After what felt like forever, the bell rang once more, ceasing their taunting, before they, along with the rest of their classmates, went back into the building. Sashi, however, hid herself behind the slide, before she curled herself up and started to cry.

* * *

"That's awful!" Penn was appalled to hear of what Sashi had gone through, especially at such a young age.

"Man, kids are the worst! If Penn and I have been there, we would have done something about it!" Boone added, just as upset as Penn was.

"I don't think it wouldn't matter to be honest," Sylvester sadly disagreed. "Sashi was so traumatized by her experience that she refused to go back. That's when we realized that we needed a fresh start; in the end, we packed up what belongings we had and moved to Middleburg. But by then, Sashi had changed, no longer interested in making friends, but to protect herself from those who wanted to harm her. For a while, I thought she would stay that way...until she suddenly befriended you two."

Penn and Boone were a bit stunned to hear this part, before Mr. Kobayashi resumed where he left off.

"It's because of your friendship with her, that she's starting to change back to the person she used to be. For that, I am forever grateful to you both."

The guys couldn't help but feel touched by Sylvester's humbled words, as well as recalling their first meeting with Sashi. Even though it had gotten off to a _very_ rocky start, it eventually evolved into a strong friendship that they forged together and it was that strong bond that helped them out in every mission they took to stop Rippen from ruining worlds.

"Thanks for the kind words, Sylvester."

"We appreciate it a lot."

"Actually, it is I who should be thanking you two," Sylvester insisted. "If Sashi haven't met you two, she would have remained the same bitter girl she used to be ten years ago. You have no idea what it's like to be a father and not see your daughter almost never smile."

"We're glad to be her friend."

"She can be abrasive but she's still fun to hang out with."

It was in the midst of their conversation, Penn finally realized that the sun was getting pretty low in the sky, as well as the fact that Sashi still hadn't shown up at all since leaving the Odyssey. He knew that Sashi was capable of taking care of herself, but it bothered him so much, that he was starting to become worried about her.

' _Where could Sashi be by now? I expected her to show up unannounced by this point,'_ Penn was pulled from his thoughts as he heard Sashi's voice.

" _Boone, you're a genius!"_ Penn turned to see it was just Boone's ringtone of Sashi's voice.

"Looks like my mom's calling me," Boone then picked up his cellphone and chatted with his mom for a few minutes, before hanging up his cellphone and putting it back into his pocket. "Food's on. I'll see you tomorrow, Penn."

"Later, Boone," Penn bid his friend farewell.

"Thanks for coming by," Sylvester added, as Boone bid his farewell to them before heading out to the front door. Shortly afterwards, Sylvester finally realized that his daughter hadn't shown up all day and her long absence started to worry him. "Oh my goodness, Sashi should have been here by now. Maybe I should call her."

"She won't pick up. Is it alright if I could go look for her alone, Sylvester?" Penn asked him. "I also wanted to make sure she's okay but I want to talk to her in private."

"I would really appreciate it, Penn. I'll see that your food will be in the fridge when you get back." Sylvester expressed his gratitude.

"Thanks, Sylvester and don't worry, I'll make sure to bring her back," Penn assured him, before he headed outside of his home. But as soon as he was out, however, Penn was starting to freak out a bit. He honestly doesn't know where Sashi would be, but at the same time, he didn't want to disappoint Sylvester either. After all, he did promise he would look out for his daughter and he was going to honor his promise to him.

"Alright, Penn, calm yourself…" Penn said to himself. "If I was Sashi and don't feel like coming home right away, where would I be?"

Penn pondered for what seemed like an eternity, trying to figure out where someone like Sashi would be when she needed to be by herself. Eventually, though, he realized that there was one possible place for her to head off to. It was a long shot, but it was better than speculating about it.

"Might as well rely on my gut instinct and wild guesses," Penn muttered under his breath, before he headed off to the opposite direction of his neighborhood, just hoping that Sashi would still be there by the time he arrived.

* * *

 **A/N A lot to drop on you guys, I'm sure.**

 **Fun Fact: Indestructium, according to Google Drive's spellcheck, is a real word. It is also the only spell check out of the three that I use that actually thinks that with Microsoft Word and Fanfiction's saying it's full of it. The more you know...?**

 **Alright guest reviews. Thank you kindly, everyone. Got three of them this week:**

 **Guest: Considering I get an almost sick joy in ruining the day of characters in my stories before they get any sort of uplift, not for a while, buddy.**

 **ootukcoRamI: Let me put it his way, the story stopped being an experiment when I released the second chapter so I thought about it a total of negative day since your review. And at least make it challenging on the name thing. The review right below yours gives the answer away.**

 **JustaGuest: Depression? Hmm… well now that you mention it…**

 **Luigi S. Mariano: Him? That's nothing compared to what's coming. By the end of this, Rippen will receive more than his fair share of beatings. I can't explain too much but trust me; it's not unfair to him.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Just be careful with that praise: It might go to my head.**

 **Till next time, Sal out!**


	4. Ch 4: Escape

**Ch. 4: Escape**

The sun was starting to go down in Middleburg, as night was slowly sweeping throughout the town, but for Penn, it was only just the beginning; after promising Sylvester that he would return home with Sashi, Penn went off to the one place that he could instinctively think of. He just hoped his wild guess was right.

' _Sashi, you better be there!'_ Penn thought, ignoring the heavy breathing coming out from his mouth and the pain that were numbing his legs, before he finally caught the sight of his friend on a swing set at the park, sitting right across of what was once her apartment with her back to him. "Right where I thought you'd be..."

Once he managed to catch his breath, Penn quietly and cautiously made his way into the park, making sure that he doesn't give himself away, in the hopes of getting Sashi to open up to him.

Penn approached the swing set and took note of her far-off stare and look of distress in her face and it became quite clear to him that Sashi was lost in her thoughts and he had no doubt they weren't pleasant ones. Penn was going to have to announce his presence eventually; after a few seconds, he mustered up his courage and spoke up.

"Hey Sash, mind if I join you?" Sashi was snapped back to reality, but she didn't need to turn around to see who it was.

"What do you want, Zero?" she asked, her voice was still as cold as it was before, while not taking her eyes off of her burnt apartment, as Penn sat on the swing right next to her.

"I...just wanted to talk," Penn replied hesitantly. The ice he was treading on might as well not have been there, considering how thin it already was. "And I wanted to talk to you because we're friends."

Penn was hoping for something remotely resembling smooth sailing; Sashi's sigh, however, betrayed her annoyance.

"I swear, you have to be the most persistent person I've ever met."

"I did got it from my folks," Penn joked, hoping to lighten up the mood between them.

Sashi sat silent for a little bit, with nothing to say back. Penn wanted to talk back to her, but he couldn't seem to figure out where he could start.

' _What should I say to her? If I don't say something now, it'll be for nothing. But if I do say something, she might take it the wrong way,'_ Penn worriedly thought. After thinking long and hard, he took a deep breath and settled on what to ask; it was now or never.

"I just want to know what happened."

Sashi didn't respond back, other then letting out an annoyed grunt, before sighing and ready to talk back to her friend.

"Why is it that you will never just let it be?"

"Because I can't be a good friend if you won't let me help you feel better," Penn reasoned with Sashi. "I just can't stand by and see you being so angry all the time. It's just not right."

"Maybe you should just let me be like that," Sashi countered, "Besides: You know I keep things about me on a need to know basis. Guess what? You don't need to know."

"Well I do need to know because I want to help you!" Penn reaffirmed where he stood at. "I'm not leaving here until I know what's going on."

"Why can't you be like Boone and just stay away from me?!"

"Because after what your dad told me, there's no way I can just stand by and leave my friend to go through this all alone!"

At this point, Sashi finally took her eyes off of the burnt remains of her apartment and looked at Penn with shock, before looking down on the ground sadly.

"So you know then?"

"...Yes," Penn eventually replied, before he realized what he just said. _'Is that the best I can say? "Yes" and nothing else?'_ He quickly shrugged it off, just as Sashi began talking to him once more.

"...I'm sure you want to hear what happened that night from my point of view, right?" she asked, with weariness in her voice.

"No, I want to know what happened here. We can talk about the first fire another time, but I want to know about this one," Penn insisted to his friend.

"Alright then, Penn. I'll explain it to you, but only because you are one of the few people I can trust," Sashi took a deep breath, ready to explain Penn of what transpired to her apartment. "It happened when I was in my bedroom..."

* * *

It was just a typical night at the Kobayashi residence, as Sashi was in her bedroom, just studying her assignment in the last few minutes for history class tomorrow. Sure, it was boring, but it was better than doing nothing at all.

"At least I'll be prepare for history class tomorrow," Sashi then felt her throat was a bit dry. "I should get a drink of water for that."

With this in mind, Sashi got off of her bed and headed out of her bedroom, making her way towards the kitchen to get herself some water, until she stopped in her tracks and noticed her brother standing in front of his bedroom's doorway, with a fearful look on his face.

"George, shouldn't you be in bed by now? It's way past your bedtime."

"I...I can't go to sleep. I-I-It's too dark in my room and it's scary in there," George stammered.

As soon as her brother mentioned how dark his room was, Sashi was stricken with fear, as flashback of her old room getting caught on fire was flashing right before her eyes. Fortunately for her, though, George didn't seem to notice his sister's strange reaction, allowing Sashi to calm herself down very quickly.

' _Thank goodness he didn't saw my freak out,'_ Sashi thought, before she looked into George's room and realized that it wasn't just dark, it was completely pitch black. Puzzled by this, she tried to turn the lights back on with the light switch, but nothing happened and started to fiddle with the switch several times, before finally giving up when it became clear that it wasn't working at all.

"George, do you know what happened to the light switch?" Sashi asked with concern.

"I don't know," he answered. "I tried to turn the lights on myself, but it didn't do anything."

"We should probably leave it alone for now until dad can fix it tomorrow," Sashi suggested to her brother.

"I don't want to sleep in the dark!" George protested.

"It's no big deal, George. There's nothing to fear in the dark."

"I still won't sleep in my room like that!"

"George…" Sashi sternly began, before a scent caught her nose and started to sniff the air around her. The odor was rather familiar with her, but for a moment, she couldn't recall where it came from. But a few seconds passed by and Sashi knew what it was...smoke.

"Oh no!" a terrified Sashi muttered under her breath, while George looked at his sister worriedly.

"What's wrong, Sashi?"

Sashi didn't answered her brother's question and instead darted towards the door, as she quickly opened it and sure enough, there were smokes coming from downstairs, much to her horror.

"George, go wake up dad! I'll take care of this!" she ordered, as her brother nodded his head and headed to his parent's bedroom, before Sashi closed the door behind her.

She looked down from where she was standing, hoping to spot the source of the fire and put it out, but the rising smokes, in addition to the blazing fire and increasing temperatures, prevented her from discovering it, forcing Sashi to make her way to the nearest fire extinguisher within her reach.

 _'Not again!_ _ **Not again!**_ _'_ Sashi thought, breaking the case that held the fire extinguisher, before she began to extinguish as much of the fires as possible around her, and headed to the stairs, treading cautiously downward in the apartment and gripping the extinguisher very tightly.

' _Alright, I can do this. The fire is coming from downstairs. Just head down to the first floor, find the source and get rid of it. Simple as that,'_ Sashi thought to herself, extinguishing the few flames that she could fine, before arriving at the entrance to the first floor. 'Finally! I thought I wouldn't make it here.'

Relieved that she had reached her destination, Sashi opened the door, intending to put the source of the fire out and be done with it. At least, that was the plan, until she opened the door and was greeted by the sight of the inferno itself.

"No, NO, **NO!** " much to Sashi's utter disbelief, the fire had completely gutted out the entire first floor, too far gone to be saved and even worse, the flames were just too large for the fire extinguisher to extinguish them all. With deep regret, Sashi closed the door and headed back up to her apartment instead, hoping that her brother and father were safe and sound when she returned.

' _Please be safe, you two!'_ Sashi worriedly thought, before arriving back at her apartment and opened the door, just in time to see George, along with their father, heading out of the window and into the fire escape.

"Sashi, over here!" Sylvester shouted, motioning his arm to her, as Sashi dashed her way to the fire escape, before she, along with her brother and father, climbed their way down, reaching the pavement and getting as far away from the inferno as possible, just in time to see their home engulfed in flames, much to their sorrow.

"Our home...it's gone," George muttered out in disbelief.

"This can't be happening," Sashi quietly said to herself.

"It's alright, you two," Sylvester attempted to calm his children down. "What's important right now is that we made out alive and well, together."

"...I guess that is very good," George accepted his father's words, calming down a bit.

Sashi, however, didn't respond back and could only stare at the fire that was consuming the entire apartment; for her, it was deja vu all over again.

* * *

"...And that's how it happened last night."

Once she finished up her story to Penn, Sashi looked back at her burnt apartment with complete sadness, while Penn simply sat at the swing and looked at her, unsure of what to do next.

' _Looks like it's now or never,'_ Penn took a deep breath, before finally talking to Sashi. "Sash, you, your brother and your dad got out of the apartment on time. Surely that must be something you're grateful for."

"And I am, Penn," Sashi appreciated her friend's attempt to comfort her before frowning. "It doesn't change the fact that I had to go through with that ordeal all over again."

"But you did more than any people could have done in that kind of situation."

"But I'm not like most people! I'm suppose to be the sidekick, trained to handle everything!"

"You can't be prepared for everything, Sashi. This happens to everyone."

"But I could have...I should have done better! Maybe then, the apartment wouldn't be as bad as it is now."

"Does this have anything to do with your experience in preschool?" the moment Penn brought this up, Sashi glared at him, peeved that he dared to mention her horrible experience from ten years ago, before calming down a bit to reply back.

"Why do you have to know everything?"

"Because I want to help," Penn answered. "More importantly, you did nothing wrong, Sashi. There wasn't anything more than you could have done to prevent it."

"That's the problem!" Sashi exclaimed in frustration. "I was too weak to save my old home before and now, I was still unable to save the apartment and I hate myself for it!" Soon, tears were forming from her eyes and were starting to swell up. "Why does this had to happen to me again?!"

Soon, Sashi began to cry, covering her face with her forearm in shame of last night's scenario, while Penn looked on, completely speechless. Not once since he met Sashi, had he ever seen or even _heard_ of, Sashi, one of the toughest girl he had ever known, cry. It wasn't even a loud crying. It was more like she was trying her damnest to stop herself but she just couldn't. Her breathing was erratic, her voice breaking, and tears ran free with only her arm to obstruct them.

"Sashi…" was all Penn could say, but refrained himself from saying anything further. It was best for his friend to let it out as much as possible, at least, until she felt better.

After crying for what seemed like a very long time, Sashi finally calmed down, realizing that her tough facade was broken in front of her friend and did her best to recompose herself from her early behavior. It took her quite a few minutes as she waited for her breathing to return to normal.

"Sorry you had to see me like this," Sashi apologized to Penn.

"It's alright, Sash. There's nothing to be ashamed about," Penn insisted. "Actually, I'm glad you opened up to me. You've never done that before, but I'm glad you did and it made me realize how close I am with my friends, especially you."

Sashi didn't respond back, but for some reason, she found comfort listening to Penn's speech and appreciated her friend for it.

"Looks like it's getting dark already," Penn noted, as he got up from the swing and stand up. "It's time we head back home."

"I agree," Sashi spoke up and got up from the swing as well. "I'll admit, I'm not better, but I do feel good now after talking to you about what happened. Thanks for listening, Penn."

"That's what friends are there for," said Penn, before he and Sashi headed back home together.

* * *

It was almost nine at the Zero residence, as Chuck and Rose were showering affection to their pet chihuahua, to the angry animal's chagrin, while Tia was reading her book and Sylvester was watching TV. With their son having already gone to sleep for the night, the couple was minding their own business until it was time for them to get some sleep as well. But then, they heard what sounded like the front door opening, causing everyone to turn their attention to it, before Penn and Sashi walked inside and closed the door behind them.

"Hey everyone," Penn greeted. "Sorry we didn't came back here much sooner."

"I also wanted to apologize for not coming home sooner, but I'm here now," Sashi added.

"Sashi, it's good to see you," Sylvester was the first to respond, relieved that Penn managed to bring his daughter home, just as he had promised.

"We were so worried!" Tia ran up and hugged her daughter, relieved that she's safe.

But then, something else made Sylvester quite curious. "Where did Penn find you?" Before Sashi could answer, Penn spoke up on her behalf.

"I found her at the park that was right across the apartment," Penn's answer surprised everyone in the household, before Tia turned to her daughter.

"Why did you went over there?" she asked and Sashi, for a moment, didn't replied, before giving her mother an answer.

"I just needed time to think about everything."

For their part, Sylvester, Tia, Chuck and Rose simply nodded their heads, opting not to push the issue any further.

"We understand, Sashi, but please, next time: At least tell us where you are," Sashi nodded at her mother's request.

"We'll leave it be for now," Sylvester said as he looked at the clock. "We need to head to bed as your mother and I both have to work early tomorrow."

"If you're ready to talk about it, we'll listen," With that, Tia and Sylvester headed upstairs to the guest bedroom to retire for the night.

"I'm sure you got a lot that you don't feel like talking about," said Chuck. "In the meantime, you and Penn must be starving."

"Don't worry, we put your meals away in the fridge," Rose assured the two.

"Thanks Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck," Penn expressed his gratitude.

"We really appreciate that," Sashi thanked them, just as her and Penn's stomach growled in hunger at the same time. They smiled sheepishly to this, before they quickly walked to the kitchen and took their meals out of the fridge, with Sashi putting hers first in the microwave.

"Nice of Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck to save our meals," Penn happily said to Sashi, before he saw his friend's sad expression on her face once more. Penn pondered for a moment, before an idea came to him. "Want to watch some movies together?"

Sashi looked back at Penn and fortunately for him, responded back to his question.

"Sure, Penn. I could watch some tonight, if only to think of anything else after today."

"My family's got a lot of movies that might be worth checking out, depending on what you're into, Sash."

"As long as they're not romantic or anything that's cliche, then I'm up for whatever you're into."

'Well, that would remove about every movie my mom ever bought,' Penn thought, as he mentally took note of what movies they had, just as Sashi's meal was finally cooked, before Penn put his food in the microwave to warm it up. Once it was hot and warm, he joined Sashi at the dinner table and the two ate their late dinners together.

* * *

After Penn and Sashi satisfied themselves to Rose's cooking, the two walked into the living room, but as they walked in, they noticed that it was completely empty, devoid of any life.

"They must have all gone to bed," Penn noted, as he looked around in the dark living room, while Sashi walked over to a nearby coffee table and turned on a lamp.

"We should probably be quiet then," Penn nodded to Sashi's suggestion, as he walked over to the storage closet, where they kept the movies. The two checked out some of the movies that were stored in the shelves, looking for the ones that were either interesting or some that they haven't checked out yet. In the end, though, they settled down for three movies for them to enjoy for the night.

"So, what do we got?" asked Sashi.

"Let me see…" Penn began, looking at the three films he and Sashi chosen to watch "We got Lunatic Larry, Zombdogs and Freezing. I think these three should be good for us to watch."

Satisfied with their selections, Penn and Sashi returned to the living room, turning on the DVD player, with Penn putting in Lunatic Larry first and played it, before joining up with Sashi on the couch.

"Feeling comfortable?" asked Penn.

"A little," Sashi replied, before the movie began and the duo started to relax a bit, watching the opening scene of Lunatic Larry chasing off some bikers in the deserted highway.

"This looks very sweet," Penn remarked.

"I'll admit, this is very nice," Sashi agreed, as she and Penn continued to watch, wondering where the chase would go from there.

* * *

For the rest of the movie, Penn and Sashi watched with excitement, as Lunatic Larry knocked out a few mooks' heads with ease and chasing a few more around in his car, before going ballistic in the end, especially when he went up after the big bad and his merry band of thugs on the streets, taking them down one by one, until it was between Lunatic Larry and his number one nemesis. Eventually, the latter met his demise at the hands of the former and Lunatic Larry, satisfied with his revenge, road off to an unknown destination, ending the film right then and there.

"Did you see that, Sash?" Penn asked her. "That was incredible."

"Now that's what I call an action film right there," Sashi answered back. "I don't see that much actions in most movies we watched today."

"Agreed," Penn then picked up the next DVD. "I don't remember what this one's about. Let's watch Zombdogs. It seems like it could be a good horror film."

"As long as there are some good scares, I'm up for it," said Sashi, as Penn got up and took the first film out of the DVD player and put it back in its case, before putting the second film in, played it and sat on the couch with Sashi, as the film opened up to what looked like a pet cemetery, followed by the voiceover of an older man.

" _Once, dogs were man's best friends, loyal companions that used to stay by their side. But on this very night, they would soon become man's worst nightmares out there."_

Penn and Sashi both arched an eyebrow at the cheesiness of the narrator and the way he narrated his lines, just as the scene showed the "dogs" rising out of their graves, giving off their best "growling effects", as they limped away from their resting places and moving towards a small town on the horizon.

' _...I just remembered why I don't watch this movie that often. Everything about it...suuuuuuuuucks!'_ Penn thought, before he could hear Sashi snickering and giggling next to him.

"Did you see that just now?" she asked her friend. "That has got to be probably the lamest special effects I have ever seen."

"Yeah and that narration too... tis the finest of all time." Penn let out a chuckle, before he and Sashi continued to watch the rest of the film, despite the bad impression it gave to them.

* * *

Penn and Sashi laughed for what seemed like an eternity, watching Zombdogs from its bad beginning and all the way up to its awful ending; everything about it was the very definition of "so bad, it's good", from the so-called "special effects" on the zombified dogs to the wooden acting skills from the so-called "actors".

"That was just a bad movie, but in a good way," Penn stated, trying to hold back his laughter down. "The writing was just weird and didn't make any sense."

"Not to mention how bad the movie ended" Sashi remarked, also holding down her laughter as well. "Seriously, who came up with the idea of using radioactive dog foods to take down those zombie dogs? That was very absurd."

The two continued to laugh at the ridiculousness of the movie, before they managed to calm themselves down, with Penn getting up from the couch, with the last movie in his hand.

"Alright, Sashi. Here's the last movie for the night," Penn then removed the second film from the DVD player and put it back in its case, before putting in the Freezing movie in it, played it and sat right next to Sashi.

"I've never seen Freezing myself. Is it that good?" Sashi curiously asked.

"Honestly, I haven't seen it yet myself," Penn admitted. "But I heard good things about it, so it might be worth checking out."

Sashi nodded her head, before she and Penn looked back at the TV, just in time to see the opening scene of Freezing, showing what looked like a very elegant looking castle.

"It looks like this movie is based off on a fairy tale," Sashi noted.

"So are many films like this one out there," Penn pointed out. "But I'm sure it'll be enjoyable."

"I guess so," Sashi simply said and continued watching the movie with Penn.

* * *

Halfway through Freezing, where Penn and Sashi reached the scene where the main character is searching for her sibling, along with an assorted array of supporting characters, appearing in what looked like a snowy mountain, Penn and Sashi were starting to feel very tired. Somehow, this movie, for some reason, was somewhat giving them a calming effect, as they were starting to get too relaxed in the process.

' _Must...stay...awake,'_ Penn thought, struggling to stay awake.

' _Can't...go...to sleep,'_ Sashi thought as well, as she let out a yawn.

Despite their best efforts, however, Penn and Sashi eventually fell asleep on the couch, their heads leaning together for support and soon, they slept peacefully side by side after such a long day, with the movie still playing. While embarrassment was on the way soon enough when they woke up, for one small moment at least, the problems that plagued their minds were silenced.

* * *

 **A/N Well that's nice. But we're not done yet. The real fun starts next chapter.**

 **Guest reviews… or review rather.**

 **Shootingstarmax: And the internet is a very dangerous place. Tread carefully, my friend. I'm glad you think this story is amazing. Personally, I would've added more tags but Fanfiction has a pretty strict two genre limit. I would've added Mystery and Friendship too because those are also central themes. George is a bit of a problem: outside of a few things, there isn't really much for him to do that would matter. I mean, I can invent a personality. It's not difficult. It's more a question of "Is he really important?". I'm glad you enjoyed the story and thank you for the support!**

 **While this may be a bright spot, don't expect it to last. The real fun has just begun!**

 **One last thing: There will be more missions for the team so if you have any fun ideas for worlds, please let me know.**

 **Till next time, Sal out!**


	5. Ch 5: ヒーローは崖から落ちます

**Ch. 5:** **ヒーローは崖から落ちます**

Penn didn't know why, but he had a strange feeling that something about his surroundings wasn't right; he didn't felt the soft cushion on his back nor did he felt the hard object that he had leaned on as well. Whatever it was, he needed to find out, whether he liked it or not.

' _I feel like opening my eyes is a really bad idea,'_ despite his reluctance, Penn opened his eyes to find a familiar and unwanted sight. "Oh goodie: Back in the black void of the Nothingness. Well, at least I know it's a dream this time."

He wandered around the empty blackness, looking around to see if there was anything else in sight within the aimless void. He had only been here for who knows how long and it was already getting creepier with each passing seconds. But then, Penn spotted a big glow from the distance, followed by two familiar voices.

"Penn, is that you?" Brock asked out loud.

"It's us, sweetie. We're over here!" Vonnie called out.

Penn sighed with relief, knowing full well that his parents were safe and sound, even if it was just like the dream before.

"Might as well go along with it," Penn muttered to himself and shrugged, before he ran towards the glow, getting bigger with each step he took. When he finally arrived at his destination, he calmly walked right into the glow and in no time, he was with his parents in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable.

"Mom! Dad! you're-" was all Penn could say, before Brock gave his son one big hug.

"Penn, you precious little man, you finally made it! Brock exclaimed, with tears of joy streaming down from his face, tightening his hug on his son.

"I...can't...breath!" Penn barely uttered his words out, before Brock finally released his grasp off of his son, as he sheepishly his head for his actions.

"Don't blame your dad for being this emotional," Vonnie said, as she approached her son. "After all, this is the biggest moment of your life."

"It's alright, mom, I…" Penn trailed off and looked at his mom in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Why, your wedding, sweetie," Vonnie motioned her arms upward, allowing Penn to look around and realized that, instead of being in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable, he and his parents were in the altar...the same altar from his previous dream. He then looked at himself and saw that he was in a tuxedo once more, before he looked in his new surrounding to see that Larry was still the marriage officiant and Rippen was still playing the organ pipes, just like last time.

' _Seriously?!'_ Penn angrily thought. Was his dream trying to mock him or something? More importantly, why was it taking place in an altar, of all places?

But Penn wouldn't get his answer, however, as another unexpected surprise suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.

"Dude, are you getting the wedding jitters already?" Penn turned around and saw that it was none other than Boone, also wearing a tuxedo, just like him.

"Boone, what are you doing here?" asked a shocked Penn.

"I'm your best dude, dude!" Boone nonchalantly replied. "Also, your bride to be is here too."

Penn stared at his friend, as his face went completely pale in disbelief, before finally speaking up.

"Wait, "Bride"? What bride?!" Penn was now starting to freak out. "I'm not even old enough for-"

"Ah, I see she's finally arrived," Larry happily proclaimed, as the wedding march began on the organ, prompting Penn, as well as everyone, to turn around and saw a figure in a white wedding dress, with a veil that completely covered her face. There was no doubt in Penn's mind that it was the bride, as she calmly and peacefully arrived at the altar, standing right besides Penn.

' _Who the heck could she be?'_ Penn wondered, just as Larry turned his attention to Penn and his mystery bride.

"Do you, Penn Zero, take this lovely bride to be your wife?"

Instead of answering his question, Penn cautiously approached the bride and after a moment of hesitation, pulled the veil up and right in front of him, was none other than…

"Sashi?!" Penn couldn't believe who he was staring at.

"Of course it's me, Penn. Who else could it be?" Sashi slyly asked, before she uncharacteristically giggled at Penn's reaction.

Penn remained motionless, unable to move or even say a single word; everything about this dream was becoming much weirder than it already was, from Boone being his best man to now Sashi being his bride. It was starting to prove too much for him and all he wanted to do was shout at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"AAH!" Penn screamed as loud as he had ever screamed in his entire life, before he finally caught his breath, allowing himself to look around and noticed that he was in his living room, sitting on the couch...and sitting right next to Sashi, who he had just surprised with his sudden outburst.

' _What the heck was that dream about?!'_ Penn frantically wondered, before he felt his arm being punched very hard, causing him to wince in pain, as he clutched it and turned around to see a very irate Sashi looking at him.

"Can you keep it down?! Your shouting could practically wake up the dead!"

"Yeah, um, sorry about that," Penn apologized, before sheepishly smiling back.

"What's going on down here?" asked Chuck, prompting Penn and Sashi turned around and saw him, Rose, Sylvester, Tia and George headed downstairs and approached the kids with concerned looks on their faces.

"I...just had a very terrible nightmare," Penn half-heartedly replied, preferring to keep his dream a secret for now.

"...Is that it?" Rose asked, much to her relief.

"You really scared us back there," said Chuck.

"That's what happens when you stayed up all night," Tia slightly scolded him.

"At least we know that it wasn't anything serious," Sylvester calmly said, before letting out a yawn. "But right now, we should get back to sleep."

His wife, as well as Chuck and Rose, all agreed to this, as they went back upstairs to sleep once more. George, however, remained behind and looked at Penn and Sashi very curiously.

"Why were you and Penn sleeping on the couch together?" the moment George pointed this out, both Penn and Sashi realized that they've been sleeping downstairs since last night.

"We...were just tired," Penn hesitantly insisted.

"From watching...too many movies," Sashi nervously added.

Their answers, however, didn't pleased George, as his grin grew wider; before speaking once more.

"You know what I really think you two were doing?" he asked, before George began to sing. "Penn and Sashi, sitting in the tree, K-I-"

But George didn't have a chance to finish his jingle, however, as Sashi grabbed him by the collar and force him to stare directly at her face.

"If I say Penn and I were sleeping from watching too many movies, I mean we were sleeping from watching too many movies! Am I clear?!"

"...Crystal," a panicked George replied, before Sashi released him, as she saw her brother frantically heading back upstairs for dear life.

"I swear, my brother can be such a pain sometimes," Sashi muttered under her breath.

"I don't know about you, but we should get back to sleep," Penn suggested.

"I'm good, Penn. Besides, it's about time I get up anyway," Sashi stated otherwise, getting off of the couch and stretching her arms out.

"Why would you be awake this early?" Penn asked.

"That's how I am," Sashi replied, followed by a shrug.

"If you say so, Sash," Penn accepted her answer, letting out a big yawn, before he laid down on the couch, wanting to go back to sleep. But then, something else came to mind.

' _What was that dream all about? It was even stranger than the last one,'_ Penn thought aloud. _'Why did I dream that I was going to marry Sashi?'_

He continued to ponder for what seemed like the longest time, but then, it finally hit him.

' _Could it be...that I have a crush...on Sashi?'_ Penn quietly thought to himself, before looking at Sashi, who was doing some warm ups right now, but quickly shook his head. _'There's no way she and I are more than that. We're just friends, nothing more.'_ Though as Penn was thinking this, his eyes were having other plans though they didn't get enough time for Penn to really appreciate what they were looking at.

"Penn, would you stop staring at me?" Sashi demanded, as she stopped doing her warm ups.

"Are you sure I was staring at you?" Penn responded with a question of his own, annoying Sashi in the process. "I swear, I wasn't staring at you."

"Oh, really?" Sashi remained unconvinced, as she crossed her arms. "If you weren't staring at me, then what were you doing?"

"I was...staring at the wall," Penn answered back.

Sashi continued to stare at Penn with incredulous look, before she let out a sigh and spoke back to Penn.

"Uh huh. Alright, Penn, I'll accept your answer...for now."

Penn felt very relieved to hear this, just happy that Sashi dropped the issue, before he laid on his back once more, ready to go back to sleep.

' _Alright Penn, just close your eyes and put Sashi out of your mind,'_ Penn then closed his eyes and ready to doze off for a peaceful nap. Or so he thought.

* * *

"Well...here I am again," Penn said to himself, surrounded by darkness once more. "This isn't so bad. As long as I don't think about Sashi, I should be okay."

"Hey Penn."

Startled, Penn turned around and saw Sashi behind him, who was giving him a sly look. All Penn could was smile and waved his hand back at her.

"H-Hey there, Sashi," he nervously responded, before he slowly walked away from her and headed to the opposite direction, far away from Sashi.

"Come on, Penn. Don't be shy," Penn stopped in his track and saw that Sashi was now in the opposite direction and walking right towards him. Now in panic mode, Penn headed back to where he ran, only to see two more Sashis heading his way, before he looked back and saw a few more Sashis from the opposite direction as well.

"This can't be happening!" a horrified Penn shouted and continued to ran from the Sashis. He didn't care where he ran to, just as long as he was away from them. He didn't knew how long he was running, but as long as he didn't see another Sashi in sight, then everything was fine.

"I think I lost them," for a moment, Penn was in the clear...at least, until…

"Why did you run away from me?"

"Was it something I said?"

"That was very rude, you know that?"

Petrified, Penn turned around and saw that several dozens, if not thousands, or even millions, of Sashis have surrounded him, like a wolf had cornered its prey; he looked around for any opening that he could get through, but there was no such luck. He had nowhere else to go.

' _Oh no! OH NO!_ _ **OH NO!'**_ Was Penn's final thought, as the Sashis began to swarm from all over the place, pinning the unfortunate boy to the ground, completely immobilizing him.

* * *

Penn's eyes shot up and let out a big gasp, before he looked around and realized that he was back in his living room again. He then looked around to see that Sashi wasn't there anymore and he was alone. He got up off the couch and looked out into the backyard to see Sashi exercising.

' _Looks like I can't deny the obvious: I really do have a crush on Sashi,'_ Penn thought. _'But what could have caused this? We always hanged out with each other and last night was no exception. Then again, this was the few times that she mellowed out once in awhile.'_

He pondered about this for a few more minutes, before finally putting it aside and stared at the ceiling. Whatever it was, one thing was for certain: he had a crush on Sashi.

* * *

Once Penn and Sashi felt they were ready for today, the two quickly headed out to the front door, the latter making sure her family weren't paying any attention to them; once the coast was clear, they made their way outside, before walking towards the Odyssey, ready for whatever mission Phyllis had set up for them today.

' _What am I going to do about my crush with Sashi?'_ Penn worriedly thought. _'I don't want to do anything weird in front of her. It's already awkward as it is.'_

"Earth to Zero, are you still there?" Sashi called her friend out, snapping Pen out of his thoughts, before he faced her. "What's wrong with you? You're starting to turn into me,"

"Glad to see you're self-aware at least. It's just something trivial. By the way, you seem much better today," Penn's response surprised Sashi, though she didn't show it to Penn.

"Well, I do feel a little better, but…" Sashi struggled to find the right word to say back.

"You're still down about the fire, aren't you?" Penn deduced.

"How could I not be? Sure, last night was fun and it was a good distraction to get my mind off of it, but now that it's over…" Sashi sighed as she paused. "I still feel like I could've done more than turn tail and ran."

"So it's just going to take a bit more time for you?"

"Might take more than a bit, actually. Distractions are nice and I appreciate last night, but it doesn't solve anything."

"Then maybe a mission would help," Penn suggested, "That way, you can take your issues out on Rippen, but not like last time."

"I make no promises, but I will try," Sashi assured her friend.

"That's all I'm asking," said Penn, just as he and Sashi arrived at the Odyssey, as the duo entered inside and sure enough, Boone was already there, waiting for them, as well as Phyllis, standing right next to the MUT, ready to send the trio to their newest mission.

"Feeling a bit...better now, Sashi?" Boone wearily asked Sashi.

"...A little," Sashi responded back, prompting Boone to look at Penn, who simply nodded his head, much to his relief.

"Thank goodness that's over," Boone said to himself.

"If you're done talking, then allow me to explain mission…" Phyllis began, getting the trio's attention. "Today, you three are visiting Samurai Dog World, but beware, it is filled with lots of sword fights, so don't lose limbs out there. Anyway, good luck."

With that, Phyllis activated the MUT, firing its beam directly at the three, sending them off to their latest mission.

* * *

The trio arrived in a vast land covered in bamboo and the battle cry of swordsmen echoing out throughout the world, as they clashed their swords on to one another, in an attempt to gain fame, glory and honor in the battlefield; Penn, Boone and Sashi, however, weren't here for none of them. They have a mission to fulfill in this world, as the trio emerged from the long and tall bamboo that covered the area. The moment they came out, however, Penn had taken the form of an Old English sheepdog, Boone was now a Labrador retriever and Sashi had become a Jack Russell terrier, all dressed in typical Samurai armor.

"Hey, check us out! We're the mightiest warriors alive: dog samurais!" Boone shouted out loud, before he took a single step and tripped almost immediately. "This is heavier than it looks."

' _You're mighty, alright, Boone,'_ Penn thought, as he chuckled for a bit, before facing Sashi. "And we smell like it too. Wet dog and cherry blossoms. Alright Sash, check the specs," he asked her, before Sashi activated her specs to check on the world and who they are.

"You are the legendary samurai, Takezo, I am Tomoe and Boone is Ken, fellow samurai that have pledged loyalty to you. Currently, we're in the middle of a war and our job here is to retake the castle back from Kuro, the warlord of this world."

"Then let's end this war ASAP and boot Rippen out of that castle!" Penn declared, just as a dog soldier frantically ran right up towards them.

"Takezo, thank goodness you're here!"

"What's the problem there, soldier?" Penn attempted to calm the panicked stricken soldier down.

"We're getting slaughtered by the wolf army out there! We don't have much soldiers left to fend them off!" the soldier then motioned his arm to the battlefield, as wolves and dogs, all decked in samurai armor, were fighting against each other, the latter losing their lives and limbs against the former.

"Don't worry there, soldier, we'll turn the tide of the battle around," Penn assured the soldier, before he, Boone and Sashi drew their swords out for battle.

"Oh man, this is like a video game, only it's the real deal!" Boone shouted with excitement.

"Except we only have one life and it's game over if we lose one," Sashi pointed out. "Now less talking, more fighting!"

The trio then let out a war cry and charged right into the battlefield, helping the dog army out, as each of them slashed down one wolf after another, preventing the wolves from slaughtering the dog soldiers any further. Unfazed by this, the wolves charged right at the trio instead, intending to take them down all at once.

"For a bunch of fearsome beasts, they're not that bright," Boone commented, taking out a few wolves along the way.

"No kidding," Penn agreed, taking out a few more wolves down, unaware that a pack of wolves were ready to pounce right behind him.

"I don't think so!" Sashi yelled, before slashing the pack down with a single stroke, all fell from her mighty swoop, as Penn turned to see what was going on.

"Thanks for the save, Sash," Penn showed his appreciation.

"Save the thanks for later. Right now, we need to take that castle back from Rippen," Sashi reminded Penn.

"Right," Penn simply nodded his head, before he, Sashi and Boone resumed fighting against the wolves, leading the dog soldiers steadily closer to the castle and taking it back from Rippen.

* * *

"Ah yes, this feels so good to be evil right now," Rippen spoke with glee, looking at the throne that would be his to claim, all decked in a black samurai armor that covered most of his wolf form.

He couldn't believe his luck when Phil sent him and Larry on today's mission; apparently, he is Kuro, a bloodthirsty warlord who intended to take over the entire Samurai Dog World, while Larry was Shiro, the ever so blindly loyal volpino companion, making sure that his will is law and so far, the army his wolves were fighting were easy picking. He could become a full-time villain anytime now.

"So Rippen, what's the first thing you'll be doing when you become the new ruler?" Larry happily asked.

"Let me see…" Rippen pondered out loud, before looking back at Larry. "I'll make them pay double, no, triple the taxes, weed out any rebels that dare to oppose me, build a glorious statue of their one and true ruler and most of all-"

"Kuro, we have a problem!" Rippen cringed in annoyance of being interrupted, before turning around to face an injured wolf.

"Care to explain?" he asked.

"Three samurai are taking us out by the numbers and even as I'm speaking, they're making their way to the castle!"

"...How is it possible for only three to wipe out an entire army?" Rippen asked incredulous.

"He's not kidding. They're already here," Larry stated, looking down from the balcony.

"Impossible!" baffled by this, Rippen made his way to the balcony and also looked down; sure enough, not only did he saw many injured or dead wolves on the battlefield, but he also saw the army right in front of the entrance… as well as three familiar people that have been a constant thorn on his side from day one.

"Penn…" Rippen muttered in disgust, before walking away from the balcony, with Larry following suit. "Larry, get as many wolves as you can right here. I want to make sure Penn and his friends don't leave here in one piece."

"You got it!" Larry obliged and went to round up as many wolves as he could find.

* * *

After taking out the remaining wolves from the battlefield, Penn, Sashi, Boone and the dog army finally reached the gate of the castle and with no further obstacles in their way, the trio knew that they have a chance in taking the castle back from Rippen, securing victory for the dogs.

"Alright everyone, this is it..." Penn began, facing the dog army. "We got the enemy corned now and they have nowhere else to run. Now let's go in there and take this castle back!"

The soldier joyfully shouted in unison over this, before using a discarded log and heaved it back and forth to break the door down, each banging getting much louder, before the giant gate finally gave way and opened, allowing Penn, Sashi, Boone and the rest of the dog soldiers to pour into the castle to take out the remaining wolves occupying the castle.

"Alright Rippen, we're coming for you!" Boone called out, taking out some nearby wolves that charged right at him.

"We'll make sure he won't bother conquering this world again," Penn assured his friend, slashing down more wolves from left to right.

"Provided we actually make our way to him," Sashi pointed out, head-butting one wolf down.

Soon, the trio was making their way to the throne and with the help of the dog soldiers; they managed to keep the wolves at bay, now hesitant by this point and didn't bother to go after them like they had done before. Eventually, though, they reached towards a golden decorated door, no doubt housing both the throne and Rippen.

"I was expecting them to put up a fight," Sashi noted, sensing something was amiss.

"They were a bit sloppy," Boone agreed.

"If it's a fight you want, then a fight you'll get it!" a booming voice shouted out of nowhere.

Suddenly, the trio noticed four giant wolves coming out of the shadows, before getting right between them and the door, all armed with giant swords and looming over at them very menacingly.

' _Of course, Rippen has another trick up his sleeves, as usual,'_ Penn thought, as he rolled his eyes in response, before one of the giant wolf spoke to them.

"If you want to get through Kuro, you'll have to pass through us! But don't even think this will be easy, as we're the best of Kuro's army! Nothing can stand in our way and there's nothing-"

In a blink of an eye, Sash quickly unsheathed her sword and slice them down with a quick stroke, before putting her sword back in its scabbard, just as the giant wolves collapsed in defeat.

"You talk too much, you know that?" Sashi sarcastically asked, before Penn and Boone joined up with her and looked at the golden decorated door right in front of them.

"Well, that was easier than I thought," Boone stated the obvious.

"When it comes to Rippen trying to take over worlds, nothing is ever easier," Penn said otherwise, before the trio opened up the door and went inside the throne, with Rippen standing right in front of them, armed with a sword of his own.

"Ah, Penn, I'm so glad that you and your friends have shown up for a quick end," Rippen taunted his rival.

"We'll be seeing who will have the last laugh when this is over," Penn disagreed with his sworn enemy, taking a fighting position.

"If it's a fight you want, Penn, so be it," Rippen also took a fighting position as well. "But we'll be doing this one on one."

Both Penn and Rippen glared at one another, gripping their swords very tightly and for a moment, they stood still, not making a single move. But then, they let out a war cry, charging right at each other, before their swords clashed with one another, each clashing getting much intense from one swing after another.

"Go Penn, you can do it!" Boone shouted at his friend.

"Go Rippen, keep it up!" Larry shouted, prompting Boone and Sashi to stare at Larry. "Too much?" he sheepishly asked.

Penn and Rippen, meanwhile, continued to fight with one another, their swords still clashing, as sparks flew from the place, neither penetrating the other's defense. But then, by a stroke of luck, Penn rapidly swung his sword at Rippen, forcing the latter to go on the defensive, as he found himself being pushed out of the castle and in the opening, with Boone, Sashi and Larry following them.

Rippen started to get flustered as Penn continued to force him backwards.

"Give it up, Rippen. This is over!" Penn declared, pushing Rippen towards the cliff.

"It's over when I say it is!" Rippen shouted, before he leaped at Penn, ready to swing his sword at his rival.

But Penn barely managed to block it, however, causing Rippen to coil back and nearly fell off of the cliff, much to Penn's horror. By sheer dumb luck, however, Rippen managed to grab onto the edge at the nick of time.

"Penn help! I can't hold on much longer!" Rippen desperately pleaded. Penn sighed with relief, knowing that his rival is still alive.

"Hang on, Rippen, I'm coming!" Penn rushed towards him and grabbed his hand, while Boone, Sashi and Larry headed towards them to help them. "Alright everyone, now pull!"

Soon, the four did their best to lift Rippen up, putting in all of their strength in their body as possible, eventually pulling him back up to the cliff, as Rippen sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Penn. Thank you," he thanked his rival, before Sashi noticed a smirk forming on his face.

"Penn, watch-" was all Sashi could let out, as Rippen suckered punch Penn right in the face, sending him off of the cliff, his limp body fell right into the dense forest down below, to his friends' horror.

" **PENN!"** Boone and Sashi shouted, devastated to see their friends have fell for such an obvious trick, while Rippen laughed glorious of his foe's defeat.

"Finally, I have defeated Penn Zero at last!" Rippen triumphantly shouted. "I'm actually surprised he fell for that."

The moment Rippen said his last statement out loud; Sashi turned around with a hateful look on her face and charged right at Rippen, before raising her fists up and pummeling his face with all of her might. She didn't care if he was defenseless or not; she was going to make him suffer for his ungratefulness.

"You heartless monster!" Sashi shouted with fury, with tears streaming down from her eyes, all giving Rippen a thrashing. "I'll make you pay for what you did to Penn! I'll have to break every bone in your body, even if I have to break my own hands and when that's over, I'll-"

"Sashi, that's ENOUGH!" Boone shouted, before grabbing her arms and forcefully dragged her off of Rippen. "He's not worth beating up!"

"Let go of me, Boone!" Sashi demanded. "I'm not done killing Rippen! Not after he-"

"Sashi, we don't know for sure if Penn is gone or not!" Boone did his best to calm Sashi down. "Penn wouldn't die that easily. We know that."

"But you saw what happened right now!" Sashi tearfully reminded her friend.

"I know what I saw, but like I said, Penn wouldn't die that easily," Boone adamantly insisted. "For all we know, he could still be out there, injured, but alive."

Once Boone assured his friend, Sashi calmed down, but not by a long shot, as she looked at Rippen's bruised and battered face with disgust, before walking past him and Larry, who frantically tended to his friend.

"Let's go and find Penn, Boone," she darkly informed her friend, her voice as cold as ever, as the duo headed out of the castle, intending to head into the forest and find their fallen friend, while Boone worriedly looked at Sashi with concern.

' _Penn, you've better be alive when we get there, cause it looks like Sashi is about to lose it!'_

* * *

 **A/N Gravity: Disney's favorite way to kill a person.**

 **The title translates to "Hero will fall from cliff".**

 **Okay so I've only got one guest review this week:**

 **JustaGuest: Well, there are still a few more loose ends. The fire itself is a loose end we haven't tied. As for it going too fast, I did take that into account as shown in the chapter above.**

 **I'm still looking for a few ideas for worlds you guys would like me to do so let's hear it.**

 **Till next time, Sal out!**


	6. Ch 6: Dislocated

**Ch. 6: Dislocated**

Penn saw nothing but darkness for the longest time, before his vision slowly cleared up, seeing several trees and bushes around him, as well as feeling the windy breeze on his face. The only thing he could hear was the rustling of the trees and his own head pounding.

' _I'm alive somehow…'_ Penn thought, attempting to get up, before he felt a sharp pain on his left shoulder. "YEOW!" he yelped, as Penn looked at his left shoulder and noticed it was completely out of place, swelling like crazy till his shoulder looked like a hill, and he couldn't move it without searing pain. It was clear that he dislocated it, as his left arm started tingling, limp and uselessly.

"Looks like I banged it up from that long fall," he noted, before he recalled the sucker punch Rippen handed to him not too long ago. "Should I be grateful this is all I got away with? Looks like Rippen caught me off-guard. I should have known better," he blamed himself, before he suddenly became worried over his situation.

"Great, I'm in the middle of a forest and far away from my friends with only one arm I can use and I appear to have lost my sword too because sure why not?"

His curiosity got the better of him, as he looked up above and saw several tree branches had been severed from his long free fall, before he looked at his sides and saw said severed tree branches laying around. At the very least, though, it did explained his survival, as well as his dislocated shoulder.

' _That explains how I survive that fall as miraculous as it is,'_ Penn thought, only to remind himself of the situation he was in just now. _'What should I do, though? Wait for Boone and Sashi to maybe show up or find a way out of here myself?'_

Before he could make a decision, however, Penn heard a series of growling in the shadows, much to his dismay, clutching his left shoulder from the pain, getting himself off from the ground.

' _Looks like I'll take the second option,'_ he thought, before he frantically looked around for something to defend himself. Thankfully for him, though, there was a nearby broken tree branch in his reach.

"That'll do," Penn grabbed the broken tree branch off the ground, before he quickly walked away; to where, he didn't know, just as long as it was away from the growling, all the while backing away slowly. But then, the growling grew much louder, prompting Penn to stop, as the source of the growling appeared with three sets of red eyes and sharp fangs.

"Wait a second, I recognized that growling…" Penn began. "They must be some of the wolves that we I fought back on the battlefield."

The wolf soldiers appeared from the shadows, confirming Penn's suspicions. Both Penn and the wolves stared at each other with nothing but eerie silence, before Penn finally spoke.

"You want a piece of me? Then come and get me!" he shouted, before chucking his stick at one of the wolves, beaming him in the head and knocking him into his friends before they all fell to the ground in. Penn seized this opportunity and continued to run away from the wolves.

' _Why did I do that?! When would that ever be a good idea?!'_ Penn thought, chastising to himself. _'I don't know where I'm at, I could be heading to the opposite direction or worst, I could be heading straight for a dead end! No! Don't think that! You're a Zero! You'll figure it out!'_

As much as Penn wanted to stop and gather his thoughts, it was not the right time nor place to do so. He had no choice but to run and hide from the wolves, even if it meant ignoring the intensifying pain from his left shoulder.

* * *

It took them at least a few minutes after leaving the castle, but Boone and Sashi arrived at the forest and began their search for Penn.

"Penn had to fall somewhere around here…" Sashi spoke as she took in the surrounding vegetation. Though it didn't fill her with hope as the forest was dense and large and it might take them forever to find Penn.

"Penn, are you there?!" Boone shouted, but received no response back, before he and Sashi continued on with their search, even though it was starting to get dark. They turned over every stone, looked in every bush and even climbed up a number of trees to find anything that might leaded them to Penn. After a while, Boone started to notice Sashi's expression on her face...and it left him disturbed.

' _Gee, Sashi is much angrier than usual,'_ Boone thought. _'Guess I can't blame her for feeling that way after Rippen knocked Penn off from the-'_

Suddenly, the snapping of a twig interrupted Boone's thoughts, bringing him back to reality, as he and Sashi stopped in their tracks.

"Boone, did you hear that?" Sashi asked her friend.

"Yeah, I did," Boone answered, before he and Sashi saw the bush moved slightly, followed by a small growling, only for it to cease a few seconds later. But then, a lone wolf leaped out of the bush, his arms raised up, and ready to pounce at them.

But suddenly, Sashi drew her sword out of its sheath, quickly slicing the wolf's body in seconds, as he tumbled down to the ground, followed by a whimper, before collapsing to the ground, dead, with a puddle of blood forming around him, to Boone's shock and horror.

"Sashi, how could you do that?!" Boone was appalled how his friend killed the wolf off in such a brutal manner.

"So?" Sashi coldly responded.

"SO?!" Boone exclaimed in disbelief. "You just murdered that wolf! What were you thinking?!"

"He was going to attack us and I make sure he stayed down. Besides we've been doing this all day. How is this any different?" Sashi justified her actions.

"That makes you no better than Rippen!" Boone's comment didn't sit well with Sashi, as she pointed her sword at his face.

"Don't you ever compare me to that bastard, you got that?!"

Boone didn't respond back, shaken by seeing Sashi's sword right in his face, still soaked with the wolf's blood she had slaughtered with. All Boone can do was sigh in defeat, before Sashi wiped the wolf's blood off of her sword and put it back in its sheath.

"Now come on, we need to keep searching for Penn," Sashi commanded Boone, as they resumed searching for their friend once more.

* * *

Penn breathed heavily from all the running he had put his body through, though the intense pain from his left shoulder didn't help either. He was just lucky that he found a nearby bush on time, just as his legs were about to give up on him. At least now he can hide in plain sight from the wolves and give himself room to breathe.

' _That was a close one. Thank goodness I'm safe,'_ Penn thought, before he could hear a series of footsteps coming to his direction, no doubt that the wolves had arrived at his location.

"Where did Takezo go?" one wolf demanded.

"He shouldn't have been able to outrun us that easily," another stated the obvious.

"Don't worry, you two. We're wolves. Sniff him out." one of them reminded the group.

The wolves agreed with this, before they started to sniff the air around them, while Penn, still hiding in the bush, gave himself a mental face palm in response.

' _Why did we have to be dogs?'_ he cursed himself. _'I need to distract them somehow, but with what?'_

It was then that Penn noticed a nearby rock right next to him and an idea came to him.

' _Perfect!'_ Penn thought, grabbing the rock from the ground and quickly threw it right behind the wolves, hitting a tree not far from where they were, prompting the wolves to look back to its direction.

"He's over there!" one wolf concluded.

"What are we waiting for? After him!" another ordered.

The wolves then howled loudly, before they headed to the opposite direction, disappearing into the darkness and out of Penn's right.

' _Wow they are dumb!'_ Penn thought, before he quickly scurry off from his hiding spot and away from the wolves, before they realized they have been fooled.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later…**

"I think...I finally...lost them," Penn barely got his words out, relieved that he was able to trick the wolves, before his left shoulder began to tingle.

"Augh!" Penn cringed from it, but took a deep breath and ignored it as best as possible, before he looked around to see where he was. "Looks like I'm still not out of the woods just yet."

Penn then took a good look at himself to see that he was covered in dirt and dead leaves that scattered all over him from all the running and aside from his dislocated left shoulder, he was otherwise fine.

"Good thing I'm just a mess instead of being in some wolf's stomach," Penn then took a deep breath, before becoming serious. "Alright, I can do this. All I have to do is wander carefully around here until I can spot my friends."

With this in mind, Penn wandered aimlessly around the forest, grip tightening on the broken tree branch and keeping his guard up, just in case he accidentally bumped into the wolves once more and hoping he could reach his friends on time.

* * *

Even though the forest was starting to get dark, Boone and Sashi continued searching for Penn for at least several minutes, using their noses to pick up Penn's scent; Boone looked back at Sashi for a moment and just like before, it hadn't changed that much, especially after she slayed that lone wolf like it was no big deal. That and how...heartless she was bothered him.

' _What's happening to you, Sashi? You're better than that!'_ Boone thought, before he resumed to sniff around for Penn's scent, worried of what had become of him. _'It's because of Penn, isn't it? You're so worried about him that you're actually going to destroy anything stopping you from finding him? I really hope you're not dead, Penn, because if you are...No, you're not dead, Penn. I know you're still out there.'_

Boone put on a brave face for the moment, as he and Sashi continued to sniff out for their friend's scent.

"Did you pick up anything, Sashi?" he asked her, only for Sashi to glare back in response. "Oh come on that time it was a legitimate question," Boone defended, causing Sashi's glare to fade.

"No I haven't," Sashi simply said.

The two resumed trying to pick up Penn's scent, searching from one place after another, hoping he left his scent around for them to pick up, despite several minutes passing by them. Just when it was appearing hopeless, however, Sashi's nose tingled; the scent around her, for some reason, smelled like wet fur.

' _Could it be…?'_ Sashi thought, before she sniffed the scent once more to make sure.

"Sashi, did you find him?" asked Boone, having noticed Sashi sniffing around.

Sashi didn't answered back and instead, quickly ran to the direction of the scent she picked up, forcing Boone to follow her lead.

"Sashi, wait up!" he shouted, still trying to catch up with his friend, while Sashi continued to follow the scent to its source, all the while her thoughts were racing like mad in her head.

' _That scent had to come from Penn...No, it did come from Penn! It has to be him!'_ Sashi thought, before a gust of air passed by and flew towards her direction.

* * *

Penn continued to wander for what seemed like forever, unsure if he was even going in the right direction. In addition, he was quite jumpy, worried that the wolves would find him at any moment now and pounce on him when he least expected it. Being unarmed wasn't helping matters.

' _Alright, just be calm and everything will be fine.'_

Suddenly, he heard the bushes moved, causing Penn to stop in his tracks, raising the tree branch for an attack. But instead of a wolf coming out of the bush, a frog suddenly hopped out of it and stared at Penn for a moment, before croaking and hopped away, to Penn's embarrassment.

"Great, I can't believe I got scared by a freaking frog of all things," an annoyed Penn said to himself, before letting out a sigh of relief. "At least it wasn't something with murderous intent."

Just then, however, he felt a slight breeze of air coming to his direction, as he sniffed it with his nose. Something about the air was different...it smelled like...

"Cherry blossoms? In this forest?" Penn began. Before he sniffed the air a few more times; it was then that he realized where this particular scent was coming from, much to his joy.

"Sashi!" Penn declared, before he happily followed the scent.

* * *

Boone and Sashi continued to follow the scent that they had picked up, the latter taking the lead, as they ran with all of their might, ignoring all else around them. As long as they found their friend safe and sound, it was all that mattered to them.

"Hang on, Penn! We're coming for you!" Sashi yelled.

"Let's hope my legs make it there!" Boone added, out of breath.

Eventually and at long last, they saw a familiar face heading right towards them from the woods. There was no doubt who it was that was standing right in front of them and was just as happy to see them.

"Penn!" Boone and Sashi shouted simultaneously.

"Bonne! Sashi! It's so good to see you two again!" Penn yelled with excitement.

Soon, the three rushed towards each other, eventually being close enough to allow Boone and Sashi to hug Penn very tightly, before their friend felt the sharp pain coming out of his left shoulder.

"EYAH!" Penn painfully exclaimed, allowing Boone and Sashi to let go of their hug.

"Sorry about that, dude!" Boone apologized.

"We didn't know about it!" Sashi added, just as apologetic.

"Its fine, you guys. Really, I am," Penn assured his friends, before he became serious. "Did we defeat Rippen?"

Neither of his friends didn't respond back to his question, however, before Boone looked at Sashi, who simply let out an awkward cough, but eventually gave her friend an answer.

"We didn't finish the mission, Penn, but I did give Rippen an extreme makeover."

' _I thought so,'_ Penn thought, not surprised what Sashi did to his archrival.

"Still, we didn't really succeeded in removing Rippen from power so the mission isn't over yet," Sashi shamefully admitted.

"Then let's head back to the castle right now, before Rippen gets away," Penn suggested.

"By looking like that, dude?" Boone worriedly asked, pointing at Penn's limp arm. "I don't think you can take on Rippen with that busted arm."

"Boone's right, Penn. You need to sit this one out," Sashi suggested.

"No way, Sashi. I can help," Penn disagreed. "Besides, I want to give Rippen some payback for taking me base jumping without a parachute."

Before Penn knew it, Sashi went right up to his face and stare right down at him.

"There is no way I'm letting you get yourself injured again! Be glad that we managed to find you alive with the wolves running around down here!"

"You worry too much, Sash! I can handle it!"

"With one arm? You fell off a cliff when you had two!"

"I have one arm that still works! It's not a big-"

Suddenly, his arm had a muscle spasm, igniting the pain on his left shoulder, preventing him from arguing any further. He then looked back at Sashi, still staring him down, remaining unimpressed.

"You were saying?" she asked, as Penn remained silent; he knew that anything he would say back to her was going to be meaningless by this point, before he sighed in defeat.

"Alright, Sash. You win," he relented. "I'll sit this one out, just this once."

"That's all I need to hear, Penn," Sashi said, pleased with his decision, before a blue light completely engulfed Penn, leaving only the real and very confused Takezo.

* * *

In a matter of seconds, Penn soon found himself right back at the Odyssey, clutching his left shoulder tightly, as Phyllis left the MUT and approached Penn with concern.

"Penn, how is shoulder?" she asked.

"I think I dislocated it when I fell from the cliff," Penn explained to her. "Plus, Sashi won't let me continue on with the mission."

"If I had quarter for every time your father got injured on mission and your mother sent him back, I could buy Big Apple City," Phyllis joked, causing Penn to chuckle back though he stopped when he thought about it for a second. Did Phyllis just compare him and Sashi to his parents? Penn pushed the thought away before it could go any further. His crushing problem isn't important now.

"It sucks to be back here before the mission is even over. I should be out there helping Boone and Sashi instead," he complained, as Phyllis put his arm in a sling, as well as an ice pack on his left shoulder to reduce the swelling. "Thanks."

"Is nothing," Phyllis accepted Penn's gratitude.

"Say, can you fix my arm up right now?" Penn asked out of the blue.

"No," Phyllis sternly responded. "Is best you head to the health institution. Just tell them you got busted arm from playing with your friends," Penn grumbled in frustration.

"I can't do that, Phyllis," Penn disagreed. "I need to head back to the Samurai Dog World and help out Boone and Sashi."

"Stop being stubborn!" Phyllis argued back. "You suffer from busted shoulder and you'll suffer more if you head back. Boone and Sashi have enough to risk on mission and you should not be risk as well!"

"Then it's a risk worth taking," Penn insisted. "As long as my friends are safe from Rippen, then that's all that matters."

"...You are stubborn as Brock too," Phyllis muttered under her breath, as she took a deep breath and face Penn. "Fine, I do it."

Penn smiled in response to this, as Phyllis went back up to the MUT controls and Penn took his place on the pad.

"Good luck, brat," Phyllis begrudgingly spoke back. Penn looked at her for a moment, but shrugged it off.

"Don't worry, I'll be safe out there, I promise," Penn assured her, before Phyllis activated the MUT, sending him back to the mission once more.

* * *

Once again, Penn found himself back in the battlefield of the Samurai Dog World, alongside both Boone and Sashi, surprising the two of his unexpected reappearance from nowhere. But their surprise was soon replaced by displeasure, especially since their friend had completely ignored their advice.

"Penn, you liar! What are you doing here?! What part of "sit out" did you not understand?!" Sashi demanded.

"She's right, dude. You can't just pop up with an injured arm," Boone added, just as upset as Sashi was.

"Guys, you know well I won't stay at the sideline during a mission! I want to help my friends out anyway I can and standing around and doing nothing isn't one of them!" Penn argued.

"Better than seeing you getting killed!" Sashi argued back.

"I won't forgive myself if I see you and Boone die because of me!"

"We won't forgive ourselves if _you_ die!"

"At least I won't regret it!"

"Maybe you should!"

"Guys!" Boone shouted, ceasing Penn and Sashi's argument. "Can we argue later? We need to get Rippen out of the castle."

Penn and Sashi looked at Boone for a moment, before looking back at each other, the air around them still a bit tense, before Sashi simply let out a sigh.

"Alright, have it your way, but this conversation isn't over."

All Penn could do was stare at Sashi for a moment, before they, Boone, as well as the dog soldiers, headed right back up to the castle, intending to reclaim it back from Rippen once and for all.

* * *

"How are you feeling now, Rippen?" asked Larry, as he patch his friend's face up with some bandages.

"Like I've been attacked by a rabid wolverine," Rippen muttered in annoyance. "I should be thankful that I only received a bad beating."

"You did knock Penn off the cliff," Larry pointed out, causing Rippen to glare back at him for a moment, before calming himself down.

"At least I finally got rid of one problem off my back."

"Lord Kuro!" one lone wolf shouted, making his way into the throne room. "Takezo and the soldiers are coming inside the castle and-"

" **WHAT?!"** Rippen shouted, shocked that Penn managed to survive the fall from the cliff. "Don't just stand there, gather the rest of the troops!"

"...I'm afraid there aren't that many left, my lord," the wolf sheepishly admitted. "Most of them are either dead or can no longer fight."

Rippen couldn't believe what the wolf had just told to him. How could he ran out of troops in a short amount of time? He was certain that he had enough around to protect the throne.

But just as he realized this, Rippen, as well as Larry, could hear the sound of marching footsteps heading towards the throne and before long, Penn, Boone, Sashi and several dog soldiers barged inside, with the wolf soldier passing by them, fleeing for his life.

"It's over now, Rippen!" Penn shouted at his archrival.

"Oh, Penn, you're alive…" Rippen attempted to sound surprised. "About what happened back there-"

"Don't bother weaseling your way out!" Penn interrupted Rippen. "You got no more soldiers to fight for you and no more tricks up your sleeves. You got a choice now: surrender now or face an army."

Rippen and Larry stared at Penn, neither saying an answer back, before the latter turned to the former for some sort of answer.

"What should we do now?" Larry asked and for a moment, Rippen didn't say a word back to him. But then, he smirked and drew his sword from its sheath.

"I propose a third option: a duel between us and only us! Only then will it determine who's victorious!"

"If it's a duel you want, then you got it!" Penn prepared to draw his own sword out, but realized he was still missing his. "Boone, can I borrow your sword?" Boone was about to hand it over, but was suddenly stopped by Sashi.

"No, Penn, please don't. Let me fight Rippen," Sashi insisted.

"I appreciate that, Sash, but this is my fight," Penn stated. "Just give me a chance, that's all."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"It's not that. Every intelligent thought says you're a better fighter than me. But I'm trying to prove something to myself."

"...Just don't die out there," Sashi said, as Penn drew his sword out and walked towards the center, before he and Rippen got into a fighting position, glaring at one another for the longest time. Then, they let out a war cry and charged right at each other, with the clashing of their swords echoing out throughout the throne.

"Will Penn be fine using just one arm?" Boone whispered to Sashi.

"Let's find out and hope for the best," Sashi whispered back.

Penn and Rippen continued on with their fights, with sparks flying everywhere from the constant clashing of their swords, neither penetrating the other's defense. At the same time, Penn could feel his left shoulder burning, gritting his teeth from the pain.

' _Not here, not now!'_ Penn thought.

"What's wrong, Penn? Feeling a bit slow?" Rippen mockingly asked.

"No thanks to you!" Penn retorted, before rushing towards Rippen, raising his right arm to cut him down.

Suddenly, Rippen blocked the blow, knocking Penn to the floor and soon, he was rapidly swinging his sword at his archrival, forcing Penn to deflect one blow after another, slowly backing away from him. The pain on his left shoulder didn't help either, but Penn put up with it for now.

' _I can't keep this up forever! I need to turn this around, but how?!'_ before Penn knew it, he found himself cornered to a nearby wall, with Rippen pointing his sword at his face.

"It's such a shame that it has to end right here…" Rippen began, before he raised his sword up. "Any last words?"

As soon as Rippen raised his sword up, however, a smirk suddenly formed on Penn's face.

"Thanks for giving me an opening!"

"Huh?" Rippen asked, before Penn tried to slash him, taking him by complete surprise. He tried to counter his attack a few time, but he was a lot faster than he thought; eventually, Penn knocked his sword from his hand, as it flew across the room, beyond his reach.

"Dammit!" Rippen cursed to himself, before Penn pointed his sword out in his face.

"I said it once and I'll say it again: surrender now or face an army."

Rippen didn't respond back and instead glared at his archrival for his humiliation. Eventually, he grudgingly raised his hands up in defeat, realizing the futility of his situation, with Larry doing the same thing.

"You win...for now," Rippen spoke, dismayed that he lost to his archrival once again.

"That's what happens when you play unfair," Penn jokingly spoke back, as he, Boone and Sashi could hear the dog soldiers shouting in celebration, excited that they have reclaimed back their castle.

* * *

With their mission done, Penn, Bonne and Sashi returned to the Odyssey, satisfied that they were able to help out the inhabitants of the Samurai Dog World, even if it didn't turned out the way they had planned it. All they know is that they stopped Rippen from his latest scheme once more and that was satisfying enough.

"Another job well done, am I right, guys?" Penn attempted to lighten the mood up.

"Sure, whatever, Penn," Sashi spoke back.

"Uh...same here," Boone added, trying to sound fine, to Penn's curiosity.

' _What was that about? That is so not like Boone,'_ Penn thought. _'They're probably mad because I lied and took such a risk,"_

"Good job on mission," Phyllis spoke up, snapping Penn back to reality, as she looked at him. "Good to see you safe, Penn. Get shoulder looked at as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I sure am," Penn said, rubbing his head, before Boone tapped his shoulder, getting his attention.

"Penn, can I talk to you...alone?" Boone quietly said, while looking at Sashi. Thankfully, though, she didn't hear him as she started talking with Phyllis.

"Sure, I guess," Penn replied, as he and Boone headed out of the lobby and out of the Odyssey, making sure they were out of Sashi's sight. "Alright Boone, what's going on?"

"It's about Sashi," Boone answered.

"What about her?" Penn didn't get where this conversation was going. What came out of Boone's mouth, however, took him by surprise.

"Sashi completely lost it back there! After Rippen knocked you off from the cliff, she nearly beat him to death and I had to drag her off of him to stop her and when we were searching for you, Sashi killed a wolf in cold blood! She didn't think twice about what she did and she didn't feel bad for what she had done either! She even pointed her sword at me just for calling her out for saying she was being as bad as Rippen!"

Penn was speechless and stared back at Boone; he was always relaxed and laidback, cracking up a few jokes, even on missions, but seeing Boone serious was something Penn wasn't use to. One thing Penn was certain, though, was that when Boone does become serious, he wasn't kidding around at all.

"...Thanks for telling me about this, Boone," Penn simply said.

"I figure you deserved to know, Penn. Anyway, I'll see you later," with that, Boone walked to the opposite direction, heading back to his home, just as Sashi exited out of the Odyssey to see just Penn.

"There you are, Penn," she said, before she became curious. "What were you and Boone talking about?"

"It was...nothing," Penn didn't like to lie, but he didn't feel ready to explain to Sashi what he and Boone were exactly talking about.

"By the way, you said that you had to prove something? What was it?" Sashi asked. Penn at first thought this an easy question but stopped when he actually thought about it.

' _What was I trying to prove? That I was better than Rippen? Or was I trying to prove something to Sashi?'_ Sashi noticed Penn lost in thought and decide it was best to drop it.

"Forget I asked, Penn. Now let's go get that shoulder looked at," Sashi accepted her friend's answer, before they walked back home, with Penn glancing back at Sashi with a worrisome look. If what Boone said about Sashi were indeed true, then she needed more help than ever before.

"And then we're going to talk about this lying thing you've got going!" Sashi said, causing Penn to gulp.

* * *

 **A/N: Penn doesn't need a left arm to beat Rippen.**

 **Hi I'm back again. Sorry about last week. I had copied this to an offline document and decided to do a little more proofreading though just as I was going to upload it my internet disappeared from the face of the earth. Don't know why but don't worry, after this, regular uploads are back on.**

 **Guest reviews this week:**

 **redlinevcr: 2019? What are you referring to? The year or some piece of media I don't know about?**

 **JustAGuest: First time someone's waved a hi. Most people wave hands. You're right I did forget about Phyllis's accent. I didn't this time! Sashi's losing her mind and Penn isn't making it easier on the poor girl. The Samurai Dogs idea was actually a friend's idea but I'm sure NeoNimbus would be happy to hear that you liked his idea. Funny story, we actually had two ideas and settled it with a coin flip. It was either this or an Evil Dead parody. P.S. My exact words were "I've only got one guest review this week." And I seem to recall getting just that. Just saying.**

 **Guest 1: I think in one fell swoop I've covered at least two out of three of those suggestions. Pets World might be fun though.**

 **Guest 2: More like clifffaller! Ha ha! That's not even a word! Top that! Serious face now. Thank you for your input and I'm glad that you're enjoying this story.**

 **Till next time (hopefully), Sal out!**


	7. Ch 7: Feelings

**Ch. 7: Feelings**

It took them almost fifteen minutes to reach to their destination, but Penn and Sashi finally arrived at the hospital. They made their way into the emergency room, where Penn showed his dislocated left shoulder to the nurse, much to her shock, before she immediately called up his aunt and uncle, with Penn and Sashi looking on. After a few minutes of chatting on the phone, the nurse hung up and turned her attention to Penn.

"Alright sweetie, I inform your aunt and uncle of your situation. Just sit down in the waiting room until they show up."

"Thanks, ma'am," Penn thanked the nurse, as he and Sashi went into the waiting room for Rose and Chuck, before he looked at his left shoulder. "Man, this really bites."

"It's not your fault, Penn," Sashi assured her friend. "If anyone is to be blame, it's Rippen."

"Still, I should have known Rippen was going to do that," Penn stated otherwise. "I'm not going to make that mistake ever again."

"If he does, I'll remind him with my fist," Sashi said, clenching her hand.

"That would certainly send a message to him," Penn said with a chuckle.

By now, ten minutes had passed since they arrived at the emergency room, but Penn and Sashi saw Chuck and Rose frantically running up towards them, before stopping right in their tracks, both having worried looks on their faces.

"Penn, thank goodness you're alright!" Rose yelled with relief, before becoming worried once more. "What happened to your arm?!"

"What did you do to it? Chuck expressed his concern.

"Don't worry, Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck. It's no big deal," Penn then felt his left shoulder tingled, causing him to cringe from the pain.

"I don't think so," Rose said otherwise, just as a nurse approached her and her husband.

"Are you his guardians?" Both Chuck and Rose nodded. "Excellent! I need one of you to come with me and fill out the forms," she informed them, prompting Rose to turn her attention to Chuck.

"I'll go fill out the forms, Chuck. Just stay here with Penn and Sashi."

"I will, Rose," Chuck assured her, as his wife followed the nurse to fill out the forms, before facing his nephew. "Penn, care to explain what happened?" Penn took a deep breath and began his explanation.

"I was at the Samurai Dog World with Boone and Sashi to take back a castle that Rippen took over and when I saved him from falling to his death, he sucker punched me off from the same cliff."

Chuck gasped in shock to hear this, especially how Rippen would do something so heartless to Penn, despite his nephew saving his life.

"But you did go back to the Odyssey afterwards, right?" Penn nervously darted his eyes away from his uncle, before giving him his answer.

"Actually...I went back to finish the mission," Penn's response deeply horrified Chuck, while Sashi shook her head in disapproval.

"Why would you do such a thing?!" Chuck's shouting prompted everyone to stop what they were doing and turned their directions at him, Penn and Sashi.

"Sir, please refrain from shouting," one of the nurses politely scolded Chuck.

"Sorry," Chuck scratched the top of his head, as she and everyone went back to minding their own business, before Chuck turned back to his nephew, disappointed that he would do something so risky.

"Uncle Chuck, I always risk my life whenever I go out on a mission all the time," Penn defended his choice. "This mission was no different like the rest."

"You don't go out on most missions with a busted shoulder," Chuck countered. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking of stopping Rippen from taking over that dimension, even if I have to do so with one working arm," Penn justified his action.

Chuck simply shook head to this, before he turned his attention to Sashi.

"Sashi, what were you doing when this happened?"

"I was carrying on with the mission, Mr. Zero," Sashi replied. "I was the one who told Penn to head back to the Odyssey and allow me and Boone to finish the mission. We argued about it and I thought Penn listened after he agreed to go back...until he returned after about a minute, the liar," Penn could feel Sashi's glare as he heard her words. It was obvious she really hated that he lied to her.

Once he heard Sashi's explanation, Chuck sighed in exasperation by Penn's reckless actions. His nephew should have known better than to go out like that.

"Uncle Chuck…" Penn began, only for Chuck to look back at him and simply shook his head, prompting Penn to be silent, just as a nurse, as well as Aunt Rose, approached him.

"Mr. Zero, please follow me to the back right away."

Penn nodded his head, got up from his seat and along with his aunt, followed the nurse to their destination, leaving behind Chuck and Sashi in the waiting room by themselves.

"Is there anything else that you haven't told me yet?" Chuck asked Sashi, causing her to take a deep breath, before she began her explanation.

"It began when we arrived at the Samurai Dog World…"

* * *

Penn and Rose continued to follow the nurse around, until they stopped in a room full of beds. "Please wait in here, ma'am. We'll be back soon," Rose took a seat as directed, before the nurse continued to lead Penn down the hallway.

They soon arrived right in front of a door labeled "X-Ray". The nurse then opened it and led Penn inside, taking him to the center of the room.

"Now remember, Mr. Zero, just lie down and don't move a muscle. The x-ray machine will do the job and it will be over quickly," the nurse instructed Penn.

"Um, alright," Penn simply said, getting onto the table underneath the machine, as the nurse threw a lead blanket over the lower half of his body.

"By the way, how did you hurt your left shoulder?" the nurse asked curiously.

"I...fell down after playing with my friends," Penn responded. Today had to have the record for more lies told by him in one day. He didn't like to lie, but he would have a hard time explaining to her that he dislocated his shoulder by falling off a cliff where he and everyone around him were samurai sword-wielding canines.

"I see. You must have been quite a ways off the ground," the nurse accepted Penn's answer, much to his relief, before she left the room and the x-ray machine activated and began to scan him from head to toe to capture a complete image of his entire body.

' _This is going to be a long day,'_ Penn thought, as the x-ray machine continued to fully scan him from head to toe.

After thirty minutes of scanning, the x-ray machine deactivated, having served its purpose. The nurse then entered in the x-ray room to check up on him. She motioned her arm for Penn to get up, which he did and he followed her again, before arriving back at the hospital bedroom.

"Alright, Mr. Zero, you just get comfy over here until the doctor shows up a bit," the nurse informed him.

"Thanks, ma'am," Penn thanked her, lying down on the bed.

"We appreciate the help," Rose added.

"No problem. Glad I can be of service," the nurse appreciated their gratitude, before she turned around and left. Once the coast was clear, Rose asked her nephew something very important.

"Penn, how did your shoulder ended up like that?"

"...It's a long story, Aunt Rose and I'll explain everything when we get back home," Penn wearily responded, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversations.

"Alright, I understand, dear," Rose accepted her nephew's answer, respecting his decision for now.

Just then, the doctor finally showed up, holding a file underneath his arm, prompting both Penn and Rose to act natural around him.

"Hello there, Mr. Zero…" the doctor began, opening up the file to start his examination. "Before we began, I need to ask you some important questions."

"Sure," Penn said as calmly as possible, as the doctor looked over the x-ray pictures.

"Not to state the obvious, but this x-ray picture clearly showed your left shoulder dislocated from its proper place. Care to explain how this happened?"

"I was playing a game with my friends when I slipped and fell down...from a tree," Penn lied.

"Are you sure about that?" the doctor became quite suspicious of Penn's claim. "Just how high were you and your friends playing?" Penn pondered quickly, before answering the doctor's question.

"It was more than five foot fall. Yeah, I think that was it."

The doctor's expression, however, remained unchanged, as Penn couldn't figure out if he bought his claim.

' _Oh come on, that was my most believable one! What, you've never had patients fall out of trees?! What more do you want, doc?!'_

"Doctor, my nephew had a very rough day and he just needed some space," Rose interjected. "Just tell us how bad his left shoulder is already."

The doctor was taken aback for a moment, but sighed and relented, to Penn's relief.

' _Score one for Aunt Rose,'_ Penn was thankful that his aunt was here with him, before the doctor spoke once more.

"It's not too bad and it shouldn't be too difficult to put the left shoulder back to its place. However, the procedure will be very painful and your nephew will need to be sedated before the procedure can be performed. No surgery is needed, so this shouldn't be too bad."

Penn let out a sigh, but was relieved that his injury wasn't anything too serious. Likewise, Rose was also relieved that her nephew avoided any serious injuries as well.

"Now just laid down, relax and we'll take care of the rest," the doctor said to Penn, as a nurse came to the room and injected Penn with the sedation, putting him to sleep, allowing the doctor to perform the procedure.

* * *

"...And that's how it happened."

Once Sashi was done finishing up her story, Chuck could only stare at her, speechless of what occurred in the Samurai Dog World. He couldn't believe what Penn went through during his time in that world. Sashi herself was out of breath from having to explain everything.

"...It's a miracle that Penn managed to survive from such a long fall," Chuck finally spoke.

"I don't know how Penn managed to survive that fall either," Sashi confessed. "He didn't explain how he did it."

"The important thing is that Penn survived and made it back home," Chuck said.

"Yeah, I guess that is a good thing," Sashi agreed. "However, I doubt Penn would be lucky if something like this happens again."

"That depends on how bad his arm is and how long it will take for it to heal," Chuck said, before he became quite serious. "In the meantime, you, Penn and Boone should take a break from going out on missions until my nephew's arm is fully healed."

Chuck's suggestion, however, didn't please Sashi one bit.

"We can't do that!" Sashi argued. "We can't just go on a vacation because we felt like it. If we do that, Rippen will do whatever he pleases without anyone stopping him."

"You can't go out on missions if you're stressed out all the time," Chuck countered. "They don't relieve them, they build them up."

"I know!" Sashi shouted, only to regret it and looked down on the floor with shame. "...I know, Mr. Zero, but it doesn't change the fact that we can't refuse to go out on a mission without consequences."

"I understand that, Sashi, but you can't rush things all the time," said Chuck. "Just take things slow and relax, even if it's for that one moment."

Sashi stared at Chuck, not saying a single word to him, until she took a deep breath and responded back.

"I'll...think about it."

"That's all I'm asking," Chuck said with a smile, hoping that his advice had gotten through to her.

* * *

It felt like forever, but Penn started to regain consciousness from what felt like an overdue nap, his head feeling a bit groggy, as he started to slowly wake up from the sedation.

"Man, that had to have been the longest nap I ever took," Penn muttered under his breath.

"That's because you were sedated. Actually, you were only out for thirty minutes," Penn turned around and saw the doctor right next to him, with Rose sitting by his side.

"It still feels like a long nap," Penn stated, before he saw the sling on his left arm. "How long will I need to have this sling on?"

"Best case scenario, it'll take four weeks for your left shoulder to heal," the doctor replied.

" **FOUR WEEKS?!"** Penn was shocked to hear the doctor's answer; he can't believe that it'll take him four weeks before he can use his left arm again. Unfortunately for Penn, that also meant that Rippen could take over one world after another without anyone opposing him.

"Please sir, there are other patients sleeping here," The doctor scolded Penn.

"Sorry," he apologized, though Penn still remained worried over his new situation. But the doctor wasn't done yet.

"Besides, we also have to factor in physical therapy. That could be another month as well."

' _Oh man, what do I now?!'_ he frantically thought. _'Rippen will take advantage over this! How am I supposed to stop him now in the next four weeks with one working arm?! What I did back there was dumb luck! If I don't find a way to stop him, every world will fall under his reign!'_

"Is something bothering you?" the doctor asked, having noticed Penn's panicked look on his face.

"I-It's nothing, really," Penn insisted to the doctor, who stared at him for a moment, before nodding his head and went to check up on the other patients. Penn then laid his head down on the pillow, sighing heavily and stared at the ceiling.

' _This stinks! I'm going to be on the sideline for a long time!'_ Penn thought, dismayed that he wouldn't be able to participate on any missions for such a long time. After a few minutes, he calmed himself down over his predicament. _'Maybe I'm worrying too much about this. I should just head home and rest.'_

Penn then got up from his bed and with Rose's help; he was back on his feet.

"Careful now, Penn: Take it slow and steady," Rose said to her nephew.

"I will, Aunt Rose and thanks for the help," Penn thanked her, before the two left the hospital bedroom and headed back to the waiting room.

* * *

It was almost an hour since they have been in the waiting room, but Chuck and Sashi saw Penn and Rose coming out of the emergency room, much to their relief, before Sashi saw the sling on her friend's left arm, leaving her quite worried.

' _How are we going to complete a mission now that Penn has that sling on his left arm?'_ Sashi pondered about this, while Chuck approached Penn.

"Penn, how long will it take for your arm to heal up?" he asked. Penn took a deep breath, before answering back.

"Four weeks."

As soon as Penn answered his uncle's question, Sashi snapped back to reality and looked at Penn with astonishment.

"Four weeks?!" she shouted. "But you won't be able to use your left arm for a long time!"

"I know, Sashi and it sucks," Penn felt disappointed by this, prompting Chuck and Rose to console their nephew as best as possible.

"It's alright, Penn. It's nothing to be ashamed about," Rose insisted.

"Don't think too much about it. For now, let's just head home and you can get some rest," Chuck suggested.

"...Thanks, Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck," Penn appreciated their concerns, before he, Rose, Chuck and Sashi left the hospital, ready to head back home.

* * *

Once they entered Chuck's car, they made the long drive back to their residence, though Penn was far from happy. He had to put on the sling for the next four weeks and allow his left shoulder to heal up, but it was such a long wait, especially when he and his friends have to save the world on a daily basis.

"Rippen will certainly do whatever he wants now that I have this thing on my arm and there's nothing I can do about it," Penn complained. "How am I going to save the day if I'm-?"

"Penn, just stop," Sashi cut her friend off, much to Penn's surprise. "You're making it sound like Rippen has already won."

"He might as well have!" Penn proclaimed. "I can't use my left arm for an entire month and I'm certain Phyllis won't bail me out again this time."

"Just leave the missions to me and Boone for now," Sashi insisted, before she saw Penn becoming uncomfortable with the idea. "You don't trust me?"

"It's not like that, Sashi. I certainly trust you!" Penn defensively said, before rubbing his head. "It's Boone that worries me. He's more of a hit or miss when it comes to completing a mission."

"I'll make sure Boone stays in line and focus on the mission," Sashi assured Penn. "Besides, you get sidetracked as much as Boone does on missions too."

"...You're right, Sashi. That does happen a lot," Penn admitted, giving his friend a smile as well. "I appreciate what you're doing."

As soon as Sashi saw Penn's smile, she ceased scolding her friend and smiled back in return, pleased that Penn, for once, was listening to her.

"Thanks for listening to me for a change," said Sashi.

"No problem, Sash. We're friends, after all," Penn responded.

While the two teenagers were chatting with each other, Chuck and Rose listened in on their conversation, both sighing in relief that they didn't start to bicker with each other.

"Thank goodness it ended on a good note," Rose quietly said to his husband.

"Yeah that could've been way worse," Chuck said, as he continued to drive the way back home.

* * *

It was almost getting dark in the neighborhood, but Penn, Sashi, Chuck and Rose eventually arrived home, as Chuck parked the car parked in the driveway, before they got out and made their way to the front door.

"If anyone asked, I fell down," Penn informed his aunt, uncle and Sashi.

"Agreed," they simultaneously agreed, before Penn opened the front door, just in time to be greeted by Sylvester, Tia and George.

"Penn, thank goodness you're alright!" Sylvester shouted with joy.

"Everyone was worried about you," Tia showed her concern.

"What happened to your arm?" George asked, prompting his parents to notice the sling that Penn had on his left arm.

"Well…" Penn began, only to be interrupted once more.

"How did it ended up like that, Penn?" Sylvester asked curiously.

"Please, do tell," Tia insisted.

"I want to know too," George added, just as eager to hear Penn's story as his parents were.

Before Penn could say more, Rose spoke up on his behalf instead.

"Penn was playing with his friends when he accidentally slipped and fell down from a tree," she told them, before giving her nephew a wink.

"Yeah, that's right. I got very careless when I reach to the top," Penn played along with his aunt's claim.

"You need to watch where you're going next time," Sashi scolded her friend.

"Alright, Sashi, I get it," Penn defensively said to her

"It's alright, Penn. Sashi just wants to make sure that you're safe should you play out next time," Chuck assured his nephew.

"I know, Uncle Chuck and don't worry, I'll be more careful from now on," Penn insisted.

"I'm glad you learned your lesson, Penn," said Sylvester. "You should really be more careful out there."

"I'm sure you need some rest after such a long day," Tia suggested.

"I can use some sleep after what happened," Penn agreed, before he let out a yawn. "Good night, everyone."

Everyone said their goodnights to Penn, as he went upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door behind him and laid himself down on his bed, ready to call it for the day.

' _I should relax first before worrying about Rippen's next move,'_ he thought, before Penn closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

The rest of the evening went by without any further incidents; after having dinner together, Sylvester, Tia and George went to sleep, with Chuck and Rose putting the dishes away, while Sashi sat on the couch and watch whatever was good on TV...or lack thereof.

' _I swear TV isn't as good as it used to be. Whoever came up with these dumb shows should have been fired from day one.'_

Sashi decided to get up and get something to drink. Just as she was coming up to the kitchen, she heard what sounded like Chuck and Rose talking to each other, as Sashi was not far from where the kitchen's entrance was. Out of curiosity, she listened in on what they were talking about.

"I'm telling you, Chuck. Penn was mumbling incoherently while the doctor put his shoulder back in its place," Rose told her husband.

"That happens when one gets sedated, Rose," Chuck simply said. "You've done it, I've done it, Brock's done it and Vonnie's done it. What's different?"

"He mentioned someone very important he wants to help and protect," Rose's statement caused Chuck to become curious in his wife's claim.

"Who is it?"

' _Yeah, who was Penn talking about?'_ Sashi wondered as well. What came out of Rose's mouth, however, left her quite shocked.

"Penn was talking about Sashi," Rose replied, leaving Chuck deeply surprised by this.

"Why did Penn brought up Sashi's name?"

"He was rambling on how he might have feelings for her, how he wants to protect her, how he will save her no matter what and make sure that she was safe from any danger," Rose explained. "Of course, the doctor who was fixing his arm got uncomfortable listening to him."

' _Penn has feelings...for me?'_ was all Sashi could think of. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; Penn was talking about her at the hospital? What was it about her that interested Penn? More importantly, why her, of all people? Her thoughts were interrupted by Chuck laughing in the kitchen.

"I think I'm starting to see a pattern right there..." Chuck began. "Vonnie and Brock fell in love while they were on the job and now the sidekick/hero pairing is happening again."

"...Come to think of it, I noticed that as well," Rose pondered for a moment, before smiling. "It's sweet that Penn thought of Sashi that way."

At this point, Sashi nearly gasped, having forgotten that she was holding her breath, before stopping herself at the last moment. Not wanting to alert Chuck and Rose, Sashi quietly snuck back to the couch and pretended that she was still watching TV. Though aware of this revelation, Sashi realized she had treaded into a territory she was not familiar with.

' _I don't know anything about love, let alone experiencing it!'_ Sashi panicked, as her mind racing with many more questions. _'But how do I feel about Penn? Do I like him as a friend? Do I like him as a confidante? Or do I like him...like that? Think, Sashi, think!'_

Sashi looked for any answer that would help explain her newfound feelings for Penn. After several minutes of this, however, she received not a single one to any of her questions. Sashi finally let it go for now, though she was just as nervous as ever.

"I can't confront Penn about this, not yet," she quietly said to herself. "If I do, it'll put us in a very awkward position. I don't want to make it difficult for Penn then it already is. I'll talk to him when the time is right. For now, I shouldn't worry too much about it."

With that, Sashi went back to watching TV once more, though her feelings for Penn were something she was going to have to confront eventually. Sooner than she thought, in fact.

* * *

 **A/N: So you guys enjoying the story? Sorry if it's a bit on the slow side this week but it is exams week and it's getting hectic.**

 **Guest review this week:**

 **redlinevcr: Um… you're welcome but that doesn't answer my question…**

 **rainbowlopaz: Well he's told someone, even if he's unaware of it. Don't worry: we'll get there.**

 **Thank you to those who reviewed. Your support keeps me going.**

 **Till next time, Sal out!**


	8. Ch 8: Sleuthing

**Ch. 8: Sleuthing**

It was morning at the Zero residence, as the sun's rays shined in Penn's bedroom and falling on his face, forcing him to wake from his slumber. He also felt the pain on his left shoulder tingling as he got up, but it was not as bad as it was since yesterday.

"Ugh! That's going to take a while to get use to," Penn muttered under his breath. "Oh well, I might as well deal with it."

After carefully getting off of his bed, Penn looked at his clock and noticed that it was 8 a.m. Phyllis was going to contact him should a mission be available for him, Sashi and Boone any time now. For them, Sundays were a hit or miss opportunity, depending on whether Rippen was planning his latest scheme or taking a day off once in awhile, usually doing some non-villainous activities.

"Never thought I would say this, but I hope Rippen won't be doing world dominations today," Penn said to himself. "He should be doing something more enjoyable...like gardening."

As soon as Penn said this, he laughed at the mere idea of Rippen doing gardening as an activity on his day off. There was no way that Rippen would plant his flowers correctly and even if he did, they would withered within seconds. Just the idea itself would make a rather good horror film.

"Rippen doing yard work? Like that will ever happen!" Penn continued to laugh at the idea, before calming himself down. "I might as well get ready for the day," Penn then pulled out his usual clothes, ready to put them on...or at least he was about to.

"This is going to be problematic," Penn sighed, realizing that changing into his outfit was going to be challenging, especially with one working arm. He took a deep sigh, before looking at them. "How hard could it be?"

* * *

Ten minutes later and Penn was still trying to get dressed. Due to his dislocated left shoulder, pain kept shooting through his arm as he put his sweater on starting with his left arm. He cringed every time he felt the tingling sensation, but he ignored it long enough to fit the long sleeve over, before putting on the sling. Once that was done, he had to wiggle his right arm to fit through his other sleeve, before using it to secure his pants on. Finally, he was able to put his socks by wiggling each of them, before putting his shoes on, eventually putting on his outfit, even if it took longer than usual.

"Man, that was tiresome, but at least I did it," said Penn. "Looks like it'll be wash, rinse and repeat until my left arm is good again."

Once he was fully dressed, Penn left his bedroom and headed downstairs for breakfast. By the time he reached down, he already saw his aunt, uncle and the Kobayashis at the table, already eating their breakfasts.

"Hey everyone," Penn greeted them, making his way into the kitchen.

"Hello, Penn," Chuck greeted his nephew. "You're just in time."

"How's your arm doing?" Sylvester asked him.

"It's sore, but it wasn't bad as yesterday," Penn replied.

"Do you need any help sitting down?" asked Tia.

"No thanks, I got this," Penn insisted, as he pulled up a chair for himself and sat down at the table, just as Rose handed him a plate of eggs, bacons and toast on the table.

"Need any help with your meal?" Rose asked her nephew, putting the plate on the table.

"I can do it on my own, but thanks," Penn appreciate his aunt's concern. He grabbed a fork with his right arm and began chowing down on his meal. Penn then looked at Sashi, who was having cereal for breakfast.

"So Sash, how are you today?" Penn asked, trying to start up a conversation with her. Sashi stopped what she was doing and briefly glanced at Penn.

"...G-Good," she stammered, before eating her cereal once more.

"...Alright then," Penn simply said, weirded out. Normally, she would give him a blunt response, but the way she had greeted him just now was quite off.

' _What was that about?'_ Penn pondered for a moment, but simply shrugged it off and went back to eating his breakfast. _'I shouldn't think about it right now.'_

Sashi, meanwhile, was a bit tired from last night, not getting any sleep at all. She tried to close her eyes, but she simply couldn't. All she could think was the conversation Chuck and Rose had with each other last night about her and Penn, or rather, Penn's feelings for her. Sashi just couldn't understand what Penn saw in her.

' _Why would someone like Penn love me?'_ she thought. _'I'm not a very pleasant person to hang out with, I always attack first and I never ask any questions later. What kind of boy would like that kind of girl?'_

Sashi stopped for a moment, glancing at Penn, still eating his breakfast, before going back to her thoughts once more.

' _I know Penn could do better than that. There has to be a girl out there better than me.'_

"Sashi, are you feeling well?" Penn asked, interrupting Sashi's train of thought, as she faced him immediately.

"Yes, I'm fine," Sashi lied. She hated herself for lying to Penn like that, but it was not the place nor the time to talk about her friend's feelings for her, especially in front of her family. It would never be the end of it should they find out.

Penn, for his part, just stared back at Sashi in response. She was acting off again, just like she did seconds ago and on the same day too.

' _She's been saying that for a while now and she's been wrong every time that happens,'_ Penn remarked in his thoughts. _'I should talk to her about why she's acting like this when I have the chance.'_

With this in mind, Penn resumed eating his breakfast once more, with Sashi doing the same thing.

* * *

After finishing up their breakfast, Penn and Sashi excused themselves out from the kitchen and headed to the living room. Just then, a message appeared from Penn's MUHU, no doubt coming from Phyllis. Penn looked back, making sure that the Kobyashis weren't looking. Once he was certain that their backs were behind him, he opened up the message to see what Phyllis had to say.

" _Morning Penn, how is left arm of yours? You better take good care of it because I will not fix it for you again. However, I have good reason to sent you message. There will be no mission for today, so and your friends could have free time. Until then, have nice day."_

Once Penn read her message, he felt quite relieved to hear this. He was still a bit irked of Phyllis' remark about his left arm, but for the most part, it was good news.

"Thank goodness for that. I could use a break after the last one," Penn said, before he pondered. "What should I do, though? I can't do anything else in my current state."

He pondered for the longest time, trying to figure out what to do for today. Eventually, the answer became quite clear to him.

" _Of course, Sashi's apartment!'_ Penn excitedly thought. _'This would be a good time to help Sashi by investigating her place and find out what caused the fire! I can talk about her weird behavior later.'_

Having made up his mind, Penn turned to see Sashi heading outside, prompting him to go after her. He needed to tell Sashi of his idea right away.

"Sashi, wait!" Surprised to hear her friend shouting at her, Sashi stopped in her tracks and faced Penn.

"What is it, Penn?" she asked curiously.

"I have an idea on what we can do for today," Penn explained.

"And that would be…?" Sashi asked further, as Penn took a deep breath before answering her question.

"I was thinking that we should do an investigation at your apartment and find out what caused the fire."

Sashi was stunned by this and stared back at Penn, not saying anything right away. After a few seconds of silence, she took a deep breath, ready to give Penn her answer.

"Sure Penn, we can do that. Besides, I also want to find out what happened on that night."

"Alright," Penn then pulled out his cellphone and dialed in Boone's number. "Hey, Boone, are you available? Meet me and Sashi at the park. It's very important."

* * *

Penn and Sashi left the Zero residence and made their way to the park. After a few minutes of walking, they reached their destination and spotted Boone near the park's entrance, waving his hand at them. Penn and Sashi were thankful that he showed up on time, as they made their way up to their friend.

"So, where should we begin?" Boone asked nonchalantly.

"The ground floor," Sashi replied. "That's where the fire started."

"So that's where we start then," said Penn, before he and his friends went to the burnt remains of Sashi's apartment, with nothing but rubble and scorched woods in its place. By now, the firefighters and the police officers were done with their investigations on the site, having come to the conclusion that the fire was merely an accident. The only thing that stood between them and the area were a few barricades that were put in place to stop any trespassers. Penn and his friends, however, have other ideas.

"Like those blockades are going to stop us," Penn retorted, before he, Boone and Sashi went over them and headed to where the fire had supposedly started. Once they spotted several scorch markings at the center of the area, Sashi activated detective mode on her specs and began the investigation.

"I'll scan over here and see if I can find any clues," Sashi explained, looking around. "I should find some that the police officers and the firefighters might have miss."

"Who in their right mind would even burn down an apartment?" Boone stated the obvious.

"That's why we're here to find out," Penn simply said.

"I'm just saying," Boone defensively said, before he started searching through some nearby debris. "Hey Penn, how long would the roof hold up?"

"Roof? What roof?" Penn curiously asked, prompting Boone to point upward. Penn looked up and saw the remains of the roof. Most of it was burned away, leaving a gaping hole at the center, with only a few remaining girders holding the roof up, but even they look like they would collapse any minute now.

"Oh, I see what you mean," Penn said, feeling a bit worried from what he saw, before facing Boone. "It's best that we just leave them alone. If we disturbed them, we might do more harm to this building."

"Gotcha," Boone understood Penn's reason, before resuming his search through the debris once more. Penn, meanwhile, wandered around the ground floor, searching for any room that would have suffer the most damage from the fire.

' _If I could find which room suffered the most damage, it can offer more clues for us to find and show us whether or not it was an accident, even if some of them were burned away,'_ Penn reasoned to himself.

Penn continued to search in each room on the ground floor, while he and his friends remained as silent as possible. Since the area was considered off-limits to everyone, they needed to avoid making a lot of noises in their investigation. Thankfully, though, they have their cellphones with them and they can simply text back to each other, in case one of them had got something.

" _Sashi, did you found anything yet?"_ Penn texted to his friends. A few seconds later, he received a response from Sashi.

" _Just some burnt marks that the fire left."_

" _But nothing important so far?"_

" _No, but I'll keep looking and I'll let you know."_

" _Same here,"_ Penn send his text message to Sashi, before he put his cellphone away and continued with his search once more. He eventually made his way to the back, as Penn looked inside and let out a gasp. The room at the back...it was totally wrecked, especially the back wall; it was completely burnt off.

' _I wonder…'_ Penn cautiously made his way inside and approached the back wall, touching the black substance with his fingers and rubbed it. Something about it doesn't feel right.

' _Better let Sashi and Boone know about this,'_ Penn pulled out his cellphone and began texting his message to them. _"I think I found something very important. Meet me at the back."_

Penn then send the message to his friends and waited patiently for their arrival. A few seconds later, Sashi and Boone arrived at his spot and they both entered inside the nearly destroyed room.

"Sashi, I need you to scan this black substance," Penn then showed his fingers, still containing said substance, in front of her, as she used her specs to scan them.

"So...what is it?" Boone asked.

After a few more seconds of scanning, Sashi faced her friends of what she had found, with a grim expression on her face.

"This black substance is a combination of every flammable materials: gasoline, lighter fluid, oil, the works."

Boone and Penn were stunned to hear Sashi's answer. If what she said was true, then there was only one logical conclusion: Sashi's apartment didn't burned down by accident. The apartment was burned down on purpose.

"H-How could someone do something like that?" a shocked Boone asked.

"I don't know, Bonne. I'm surprised about this as you are," Penn admitted, just as shock as his friend was.

"I don't care," Sashi angrily said. "I can't believe some moron would burn down a building full of people on purpose."

"The police said that it was an electrical fire that caused the blaze…" Penn began. "Which means that the flammable liquids were there to make the apartment catch on fire real quickly. Still, it doesn't change the fact that what the arsonist did is wrong. We need to know who it is and why."

"We should find out where the fire started," Boone suggested to his friends.

"Good idea, Boone," Penn agreed.

"Then let's head back and find out," Sashi suggested, before leading her friends out of the room and back to where they began their investigation. The trio looked around once more, hoping to find any clues they might have missed. After a few minutes, Boone spotted something on the ground.

"Guys, come over here. I think I found something," Boone called out, as Penn and Sashi headed to where Boone was and noticed footprints on the ground. They then noticed a trail of them leading behind to the back of the building.

"How could the police officers and the firefighters miss something this important?" Penn asked in disbelief.

"Let's worry about that later, Penn. We need to know where they lead to," said Sashi, as she and her friends follow the trail of footprints, before they eventually come across an electrical socket...or what was left of it. Penn was the first to approach the damaged socket, inspecting it closer in person.

"Looks like someone banged it up real badly," he commented.

"This had to be the one that caused the fire," Sashi concluded.

"But what's a socket like that doing out here?" asked Boone.

"It had a cover around it to protect it from any damage," Sashi replied.

"Until our arsonist ripped it out of its place and tampered with it," Penn interjected.

"Who would be stupid enough to tamper with a socket?" Boone questioned this claim.

"Someone who thinks they can get away with this and not care about the consequence," Sashi answered, clenching her fist tightly.

"Normally, we wouldn't find any evidence at all, since they would be burned away. We were just lucky to find some," Penn remarked.

"I guess that is good," Sashi agreed, before examining the socket with her specs. "Looks like there are knife marks on it."

"Could you explain that last part again?" Penn clarified.

"You heard me, Penn. There are knife marks on it," Sashi reaffirmed.

"No one can be that stupid to jam a knife in a socket without risking injury," Penn pointed out.

"Maybe someone use the knife to remove the socket by force," Boone suggested.

"It's a nice theory, but that wasn't the intention…" Sashi began. "I saw several markings on the socket. My best guess is that someone threw a few knives to hit the socket from a distance."

Using her specs, Sashi examined the markings much closer, before spotting some that caught her interest.

"Looks like some of them are quite deep, but there are some divots on it as well."

"Divots?" asked a confused Boone.

"They're traces that knives usually left when they bounced off of things," Sashi explained, before looking at the deep markings. "Judging by how deep they went, this must be how the fire had started."

Sashi then turned off her specs, having found the actual cause of the fire, before becoming serious.

"Now we just need to find whoever it did this and stop them."

"We did find enough clues around here. We can use them to find out who the arsonist is," Penn suggested.

Suddenly, the trio heard the sound of a car pulling out in front of the burnt apartment. Startled and worried about getting caught, Penn, Boone and Sashi immediately got over the barricades as fast as they could, before spotting some nearby bushes and ducked into them for cover.

"W-Who could it be?" Boone nervously asked, before he and his friends slightly poked their heads out of the bushes for a better view. Two people came out of the car, both dressed in blue uniforms and have badges on them as well. It was clear that they were police officers and were looking around the burnt apartment.

"Why did we come here again?" a disgruntled officer asked his colleague.

"Apparently, some kids were spotted in this area. What they're doing, I don't know, but they should have known better than to trespass," the other officer replied.

"Kids these days. Don't they have anything better else to do than explore in abandoned properties?"

"That's why we're here to find out."

While the police officers were having their conversations, Penn, Boone and Sashi looked on from their hiding spots, clearly worried of their presence.

"Who would have called on us?" Boone asked his friends.

"One of the neighbors around here must have spotted us entering the apartment," Penn concluded, looking at some of the nearby buildings in front of the burnt apartment. "We should have been more careful with our surroundings."

"This isn't the time to berate yourself, Penn. We should get outta here before we get caught by the police," Sashi reminded her friends.

"Agreed," both Penn and Boone simultaneously said.

The three waited for the police officers to head into the apartment, making sure that they didn't turned around for even a second. Once they went into the building, Penn, Bonne and Sashi quietly got of the bushes and snuck away from the area as quietly as possible, as they headed back to Penn's home.

* * *

It seemed like forever, but Penn, Boone and Sashi arrived back home safely, as they made their way to the living room and sat on the couch. Even though they didn't find out who burned down Sashi's apartment, they did gather up some clues that could help them find the identity of the arsonist.

"What are we going to do now?" Penn asked his friends. "The police will have that place in lockdown and with tighter security."

"Aw man, that will make our investigation much harder," Boone complained.

"Not to mention that it'll be more difficult for me, especially with my left arm in the sling," Penn added.

"Don't worry, Penn. We'll be more careful the next time we do this," Sashi attempted to assure her friend. "Right now, we-"

Suddenly, Penn's MUHU began to ring and for Penn, he knew where that signal was coming from, as he answered it immediately, before an image of his parents showed up.

"Mom, Dad!" he happily greeted them. It had been a while since he had last seen them.

"Hey Penn, how's it goi…" Vonnie trailed off when she and Brock noticed the sling on their son's left arm. "Oh my god, what happened to your arm?!" a shocked Vonnie yelled, while Brock was left speechless.

"I dislocated it after Rippen knocked me off from a cliff," Penn replied, shocking his parents even more.

"I swear, when your mom and I get out of here, we'll make Rippen regret doing that!" an enraged Brock vowed, before calming himself down. "But anyway, it's nice to know that you're safe. Did you get a metal from Phyllis?"

"Metal?"

"Yeah she gives out metals for... "achievements". "First serious injury", "First time eaten by creature with more than six arms than successfully fighting you're way out without dying", "First-""

"Thanks, dad, that's enough!" Penn shouted, which cause Brock to just shrug.

"So what's been going on lately?" Vonnie asked, changing the subject.

"Sashi and her family are staying at my place after their apartment got burned down," Penn replied, to his parent's surprise, before they turned their attention to Sashi, expressing their condolence.

"We're sorry to hear that happened to you and your family," said Brock.

"You have our sympathy, Sashi," Vonnie assured her.

"...Thank you," Sashi quietly thanked them.

"So Mr. and Mrs. Zero, how are you doing in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable?" Boone asked.

Suddenly, a loud roaring came from the background, as Brock and Vonnie turned around and saw a huge lumbering beast charging right towards them.

"Not on my watch!" Brock leaped onto the large beast immediately and began to wrestle with it, while Vonnie was facing the teens.

"I'm afraid we have to get going now, but it was nice talking to you and your friends again," Vonnie sheepishly said, before she hung up, as the image of her and Brock disappeared.

"That could have gone better," Penn joked, before a smile formed on his face. "But it was nice seeing them again."

Soon, he, Boone and Sashi sat on the couch in silence, unsure of what to do next. Then, Boone spoke up to his friends, if only to break the silence.

"We should find out who the arsonist is," he suggested.

"We know that whoever did it wants to make it look like an accident, using the electrical fire as a cover," Sashi brought up what she and her friends had gotten so far.

"It has to be Rippen. He lives nearby and would do something like this," Penn pointed out.

"As much as I want to believe Rippen was responsible for burning down the apartment, we need to be sure that the evidence we gather all points to him," Sashi countered.

"So let's see what we got then," said Penn.

Sashi used her specs to display the clues they had found at the burnt apartment. But the more they examined them, the more they realized how off they were. The footprints were rather big for Rippen, they couldn't find any fingerprints anywhere and the markings they found on the socket couldn't match any knives around the area. Even though they knew exactly what caused the fire, they couldn't figure out who started it and the evidence themselves made it clear that they don't belong to Rippen..

"Maybe we were quick to rule out Rippen as the arsonist, even if he is a bad guy," Boone admitted. "The clues we have didn't point to him."

"You're right, Boone. We shouldn't have jump to conclusion like that," Penn agreed.

"Looks like that rules Rippen out," said Sashi, as she turned off her specs in disappointment from the results.

"So what do we do now?" Boone asked again, as their investigation had gone nowhere. Sashi took a deep breath, before answering his question.

"We'll put our investigation aside for now. We should gather more clues to continue it some other day."

"If you say so," Boone accepted Sashi's suggestion.

"I guess that's it then," Penn accepted it as well.

With everyone in agreement, the trio decided to just hang out with each other, having done as much as they could on their investigation.

* * *

 **A/N Hey would you look at that! I'm still doing this story! Yes after another unplanned hiatus that I'm seriously trying not to make a regular thing. My birthday was today and I thought as a weird reverse birthday gift, I would release the next chapter. Happy Birthday to me and all of you.**

 **5 guest reviews to go over:**

 **redlinvcr: I feel like we're having two different dialogues here…**

 **Rainbowlopez: I want to break out a Daniel Bryan chant. YES! YES! YES!**

 **Luigi S Mariano: Nope. *Neck extends a full foot***

 **xXBlack-HauntXx: More humor? I could try but I don't want to shoehorn what doesn't come naturally. Allso I doo engish wel cuse I in colege and it my mageor. And thank you for taking the time to read it. :)**

 **Dr. Guest: Yeah it's easy to stand out when there's not many Penn Zero fics period. I will keep trying my best, Doc.**

 **I have no idea when the next chapter is coming out but know what the likelihood of my just dropping this story aren't very high. Like one percent and that's if my computer spontaneously combusts.**


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